South Korea's top defense official today said North Korea remained a "grave challenge" to the security of the sector and that regional collaboration was important to curtailing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear activities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 18).
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young offered his remarks during a four-day gathering in Seoul of senior defense officials from 27 Asia-Pacific states. Pyongyang's "irrational military threats,\" were a topic of serious concern for participants, Kim said.
The presumed March submarine attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan is an example of North Korea's provocative track record, Kim said.
"Military provocations like the Cheonan incident not only threaten South Korea but also pose grave challenges and threats to the region's peace and stability and the world order," Kim said.
Pyongyang has insisted on its innocence in the incident, which was a significant blow to inter-Korean ties and undermined chances for relaunching multilateral talks aimed at North Korea's permanent nuclear disarmament (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Oct. 19).
"North Korea's nuclear program, as well as its weapons of mass destruction, is the biggest threat" to Asia-Pacific peace and security, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Han Min-koo said yesterday on the sidelines of the military meeting.
It was not apparent if Han's comments were premised on recent satellite images of apparent new construction activity at North Korea's plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear site, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
Han said South Korea's armed forces would enhance collaboration with the Japanese and U.S. militaries to exchange information on North Korea's nuclear development activities.
The aspiring nuclear power is thought to have processed enough plutonium to power a minimum of six warheads. The Stalinist state has carried out two nuclear test blasts but is not believed to have yet developed the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead (Kim Deok-hyun, Yonhap News Agency, Oct. 18).
Five participants in the six-party North Korean denuclearization talks -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- today affirmed their commitment to seeing the Korean Peninsula freed of nuclear weapons, the Korea Herald reported. North Korea did not participate in the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Seoul, though it has in recent months expressed support for relaunching the nuclear negotiations.
Negotiations were last held in December 2008. Pyongyang pulled out of the talks in spring 2009 and not long after carried out its second nuclear test.
"We actively discussed various aspects and necessities of resuming the six-party talks," South Korean Foreign Ministry official Kim Hong-kyun said to reporters following the meeting (Shin Hae-in, Korea Herald, Oct. 19).
