SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired two short-range missiles from its east coast Tuesday -- a day after conducting a nuclear test -- South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing a South Korean official.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-II is suspected to have suffered a stroke last August.
"The North is continuing its saber-rattling," the unnamed official said.
The firings came a day after the reclusive communist state conducted a nuclear test and fired another short-range missile.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Tuesday the international community would not be intimidated by North Korea's "provocative and destabilizing" missile tests.
"If they want to continue to test and provoke the international community, they're going to find that they will pay a price, because the international community is very clear -- this is not acceptable, it won't be tolerated, and they won't be intimidated," Rice told CNN's "American Morning." Watch Rice's reaction »
The U.N. Security Council -- which includes North Korea's closest ally, China -- on Monday unanimously condemned Pyongyang's nuclear test as a "clear violation" of international law.
After passing the non-binding statement of criticism, the Security Council is now working on passing "a strong resolution with teeth," Rice said. "Those teeth could take various different forms - they are economic levers, they are other levers that we might pursue," she said.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
North Korea confirms nuclear test
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea has conducted its second nuclear test, the country's state news agency announced Monday.
This screen grab from North Korean television on April 9 shows leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.
The confirmation came little more than an hour after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.7 seismic disturbance at the site of North Korea's first nuclear test in October 2006. The North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said Monday's test was conducted "as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."
In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's office said the country was investigating the reported test and would hold an emergency meeting of its national security council.
And in Tokyo, Prime Minister Taro Aso's office said it has set up a special task force to look into the test and how to respond.
There was no immediate response from Washington or Beijing.
"The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology," KCNA announced.
There was no immediate information on the yield of the weapon used. But the first North Korean test produced, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, an explosion equal to less than 1,000 tons of TNT -- a fraction of the size of the bombs the United States dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.
This screen grab from North Korean television on April 9 shows leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.
The confirmation came little more than an hour after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.7 seismic disturbance at the site of North Korea's first nuclear test in October 2006. The North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said Monday's test was conducted "as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."
In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's office said the country was investigating the reported test and would hold an emergency meeting of its national security council.
And in Tokyo, Prime Minister Taro Aso's office said it has set up a special task force to look into the test and how to respond.
There was no immediate response from Washington or Beijing.
"The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology," KCNA announced.
There was no immediate information on the yield of the weapon used. But the first North Korean test produced, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, an explosion equal to less than 1,000 tons of TNT -- a fraction of the size of the bombs the United States dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Chinese boats harassed U.S. ship, officials say
By Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Chinese fishing vessels came "dangerously close" to a U.S. military ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China last week -- the fifth such incident in the past few months, two U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.
The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian crew.
The officials -- who could not be identified because the incident has not yet been formally announced -- said the two Chinese boats approached the USNS Victorious, a military sealift command ship, in international waters Friday in the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and North and South Korea.
Over a period of several hours, the officials said, the Chinese vessels repeatedly came close to the Victorious in what was described as deliberate maneuvers -- once coming within 30 yards of the U.S. vessel.
Both officials said the Chinese vessels came to a dead halt in front of the Victorious at one point, in heavy fog, causing the U.S. ship to have to come to a dangerous sudden stop. The officials did not know the exact size of the Chinese ships but described them as being smaller than the 235-foot long U.S. vessel.
The crew of the Victorious turned its fire hoses on to keep the Chinese ships away but did not directly spray them at the smaller boats, one official said. The Victorious also sounded its danger alarm system and radioed for assistance to a larger Chinese fisheries service vessel nearby. That vessel did shine a light on the small Chinese vessels but took no further action, the official said.
The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian mariner crew working for the Military Sealift Command. The mission is to conduct authorized undersea listening operations in international waters, according to the U.S. Navy. There is video of this latest incident, but it has not been released by the Pentagon.
The Victorious was involved in another incident with a Chinese ship on March 4 in the Yellow Sea, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the Victorious and crossed the U.S. vessel's bow "at a range of about 1,400 yards in darkness without notice or warning," according to a Pentagon statement.
CNN Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Chinese fishing vessels came "dangerously close" to a U.S. military ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China last week -- the fifth such incident in the past few months, two U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.
The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian crew.
The officials -- who could not be identified because the incident has not yet been formally announced -- said the two Chinese boats approached the USNS Victorious, a military sealift command ship, in international waters Friday in the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and North and South Korea.
Over a period of several hours, the officials said, the Chinese vessels repeatedly came close to the Victorious in what was described as deliberate maneuvers -- once coming within 30 yards of the U.S. vessel.
Both officials said the Chinese vessels came to a dead halt in front of the Victorious at one point, in heavy fog, causing the U.S. ship to have to come to a dangerous sudden stop. The officials did not know the exact size of the Chinese ships but described them as being smaller than the 235-foot long U.S. vessel.
The crew of the Victorious turned its fire hoses on to keep the Chinese ships away but did not directly spray them at the smaller boats, one official said. The Victorious also sounded its danger alarm system and radioed for assistance to a larger Chinese fisheries service vessel nearby. That vessel did shine a light on the small Chinese vessels but took no further action, the official said.
The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian mariner crew working for the Military Sealift Command. The mission is to conduct authorized undersea listening operations in international waters, according to the U.S. Navy. There is video of this latest incident, but it has not been released by the Pentagon.
The Victorious was involved in another incident with a Chinese ship on March 4 in the Yellow Sea, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the Victorious and crossed the U.S. vessel's bow "at a range of about 1,400 yards in darkness without notice or warning," according to a Pentagon statement.
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