U.S., South Korea start military drills as North protests

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – The U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off large exercises on Sunday to underscore deterrence against North Korea after accusing the reclusive communist state of sinking a warship.

Pyongyang warned that the drill had pitched the peninsula onto the brink of war.

U.S. naval vessels, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, began the drills by setting off from South Korean ports where they had called last week in a show of force timed with a high-level meeting between the two allies.

North Korea drove tensions to new heights after a team of investigators, led by South Korea’s military, accused it of firing a torpedo in March to sink the corvette Cheonan, killing 46 men.

The United States announced new sanctions on the North last week, freezing the assets of Pyongyang’s leaders it said were earned through illcit activities and cutting off the flow of cash to them. The moves would also ban travel by some individuals.

China had objected to the drills.

Beijing criticized the introduction of large-scale military equipment into the Yellow Sea off the peninsula’s west coast, prompting a move of the bulk of the exercises to areas off the east coast.

On Saturday, the North’s powerful National Defense Commission vowed to launch a “sacred war” against the United States and South Korea at “any time necessary,” in response to the drills, denounced as “reckless.”

VESSELS, AIRCRAFT

The drills involve more than 200 aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor fighter, and three destroyers, including the USS John S. McCain, part of the 97,000-tonne USS George Washington’s strike group.

Four Japanese military officers will be on board the carrier to observe the drills.

Pyongyang has routinely been shrill in voicing its anger in the past when the allies conducted exercises.

But U.S. officials say further provocations are possible in coming months, especially as the North tries to build political momentum for the succession to leader Kim Jong-il, expected to hand power to his youngest son.

North Korea has called for the resumption of six-party nuclear disarmament talks that it had boycotted since late 2008, a move analysts said was an attempt to put the Cheonan incident behind it and win lucrative aid through negotiations with the South, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

On Saturday, the North’s foreign ministry said it was ready for dialogue but vowed to respond by force if it had to.

“We are not the one who would be surprised by military threats or sanctions,” a ministry spokesman said.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Obama tells military: prepare for N.Korea aggression

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to “ensure readiness” and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday.

The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said.

“We endorse President Lee’s demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior,” Gibbs said.

“U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression,” he said.

Obama and Lee have agreed to meet at the G20 summit in Canada next month, he said.

Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee said on Monday South Korea would bring the issue before the U.N., whose past sanctions have damaged the already ruined North Korean economy.

The United States still has about 28,000 troops in South Korea to provide military support.

The two Koreas, still technically at war, have more than 1 million troops near their border.

“We will build on an already strong foundation of excellent cooperation between our militaries and explore further enhancements to our joint posture on the Peninsula as part of our ongoing dialogue,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the United States supported Lee’s plans to bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council and would work with allies to “reduce the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability.”

Obama had also directed U.S. agencies to evaluate existing policies towards North Korea.

“This review is aimed at ensuring that we have adequate measures in place and to identify areas where adjustments would be appropriate,” he said.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Hackers can’t hack top-secret data of military: Internet scientist

May 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Beijing, May 21 (ANI): An acclaimed Internet scientist has said that there is no way hackers could access top-secret data by penetrating the firewalls of military on government networks.

Former National Computer Network Emergency response team’s Director Professor Fang Binxing said there is no scientific basis to blame either China’s military or the government for hacking other nations’ networks because most of them are “out of reach”.

Binxing’s statement came after the foreign media blamed the Chinese authorities of infiltrating military networks and government computers in more than 100 countries.

A specialist on Internet security said that Networks containing sensitive intelligence are impenetrable, because the militaries isolate their networks completely from the public domain to prevent hacking.

“If there have been cases of key intelligence being stolen, I believe there would have been undercover agents within the organizations facilitating the theft you cannot simply do it with computer technology,” he added.

Fang Xingdong, a Beijing-based Internet technology expert, said China has become a staging post for hackers worldwide, who use the country’s network security vulnerability to launch attacks on other countries.

“Hackers often use computers based in China as their ‘springboard’. That makes it confusing even for the US military,” he added.

According to an Internet security report released on April 15 by Symantec, the California-based anti-virus software maker, about 71 percent of the computers hacked in the Asia-Pacific region are based in China, which has a cyber population of 300 million.

At the same time, 38 percent of hacking attempts worldwide originate in the US, compared with 13 percent in China, the report said.

“The US military is picking on China because it wants to make its claims appear more plausible,” Fang Binxing said.

Canadian-based researchers have also claimed that a cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles.

The researchers also dubbed the alleged infiltration “GhostNet” but “whether it’s called ‘GhostNet’ or something else, it’s just an expression, not a technical term in any sense,” Fang said.

The academician also rebutted reports by foreign newspapers claiming that China’s indigenously-built security operating system “Kylin” has links to military use. (ANI)

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Obama to meet Chinese FM, to discuss South China Sea tensions

March 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.12 (ANI): President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and discuss the latest confrontation between American and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, the White House said on Wednesday. Fox News report said the announcement came just after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Wednesday with Jiechi in a bid to ease tensions over the confrontation that occurred Sunday when Chinese vessels reportedly harassed a U.S. Navy mapping ship in international waters.

While neither side yielding in their conflicting version of events, Clinton said she and Jiechi agreed that similar episodes should be avoided in the future.

Clinton said the two sides agreed to work “to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.”

Clinton told reporters that Yang’s visit to the State Department was a “very positive” development, and she looked forward to continuing the discussions that she has had with Yang during her well-received trip to Beijing last month.

Yang said, “We are here to get prepared for our two heads of state meeting in London and to work together to push our relationship forward,” referring to a crucial early April meeting in London between Presidents Obama and Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

Beijing has long complained about U.S. surveillance operations around China’s borders.

Without better communications between the two militaries as they operate in the South China Sea, the possibility for future conflict will remain.

Jonathan Pollack, a professor of Asian studies at the U.S. Naval War College, suggested that without stronger military-to-military links, the potential for “something ugly” happening “should not be minimized.”

On Wednesday, the China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing reiterated that the U.S. claims are “gravely in contravention of the facts and unacceptable to China.”

U.S. defense officials said Tuesday that the Navy ship was looking for threats such as submarines, presumably Chinese.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told lawmakers Tuesday that the incident was the most serious episode between the two nations since 2001, when China forced the landing of a U.S. spy plane and seized the crew. (ANI)

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Israeli defence forces say they are not using illegal weapons

January 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Jan.12 (ANI): The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has rejected accusations that it is using illegal arms in its war against the Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Responding to a Human Rights Watch allegation that the army was firing artillery shells packed with white phosphorus, an incendiary agent, over populated areas, including a crowded refugee camp, and putting civilians at risk, the IDF was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying it only used “munitions in accordance with international law.”

The substance can cause serious burns if it touches the skin and can spark fires on the ground, the rights group said in a written announcement calling on Israel not to use it in crowded areas.

The IDF came under similar criticism during the Second Lebanon War for its use of cluster bombs.
White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon, and militaries are permitted under the laws of warfare to use it in artillery shells, bombs and rockets to create smoke screens to hide troop movements, as well as bright bursts in the air to illuminate battlefields at night.

Human Rights Watch said it had no way to investigate whether anyone was injured on the ground because its researchers have been barred by Israel from entering Gaza. (ANI)

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