South Korean President
Park Geun-Hye (L) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shake hands
before their talks at the presidential Blue House in Seoul April 12,
2013.
Credit: Reuters/Kim Jae-Hwan/Pool
By Arshad Mohammed and Jack Kim
SEOUL | Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:07am EDT
(Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed as "unacceptable by any
standard" weeks of bellicose warnings of impending nuclear war by North
Korea and said Washington would never accept the reclusive state
becoming a nuclear power.
Kerry,
addressing reporters after talks with South Korean President Park
Geun-hye and leaders of the 28,000-strong U.S. military contingent in
the country, also said the United States would defend its allies in
the region if necessary.
"The
rhetoric we are hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by
any standard," Kerry said. "We are all united in the fact that North
Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power."
North
Korea has issued weeks of shrill warnings to the United States and
South Korea, including of waging thermonuclear war, after the
imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear arms
test in February.
Kerry's
visit coincides with preparations for the anniversary on Monday of
North Korean state founder Kim Il-sung's birth date, a possible pretext
for a military show of strength.
Speculation
has mounted that Pyongyang may launch a medium-range missile after
reports in South Korea and the United States that missiles had been
moved into suitable locations.
Kerry said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would be making a "huge mistake" if he proceeded with a launch.
He
also said that China, the North's sole diplomatic and financial ally,
has the ability to make a difference on influencing North Korea's
policies.
Hours
before his arrival, a U.S. government agency said North Korea had a
nuclear weapon it can mount on a missile, adding an ominous dimension to
discussions in Seoul.
However,
the assessment by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
was swiftly dismissed by several U.S. officials and South Korea.
Asked if war was imminent, a U.S. official in South Korea said: "Not at all".
YOUTH, INEXPERIENCE
Washington's
greatest concern, the official said, was the possibility of
unexpected developments linked to 30-year-old Kim Jong-un.
"Kim
Jong-un's youth and inexperience make him very vulnerable to
miscalculation. Our greatest concern is a miscalculation and where that
may lead," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We
have seen no indications of massive troop movements, or troops massing
on the border, or massive exercises or anything like that that would
back up any of the rhetoric that is going on."
Park,
meeting officials from her ruling Saenuri Party before her talks with
Kerry, struck a conciliatory note by suggesting Seoul should at least
listen to what North Korea had to say.
"We
have a lot of issues, including the Kaesong industrial zone," local
media quoted her as saying. So should we not meet with them and ask:
"Just what are you trying to do?'"
The
president was referring to North Korea's closure this week of the
jointly run Kaesong industrial park, with the loss of 53,000 jobs.
In
Washington, Republican Representative Doug Lamborn quoted the DIA as
saying it had concluded with "moderate confidence" that North Korea had
developed a nuclear bomb that could be fitted on a ballistic missile,
but added such a weapon would probably be unreliable.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, but it was not believed to be near weapons capability.
In
Pyongyang, Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party,
said North Korea would never abandon its nuclear weapons program, made
necessary by the "invariable ambition of the U.S. to militarily
invade" North Korea.
South Korea's Defence Ministry maintained it did not believe North Korea could mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Despite
the DIA report, the Pentagon's spokesman and the U.S. national
intelligence director both said it was "inaccurate" to infer Pyongyang
had the proven ability to launch a nuclear missile.
The
DIA was criticized after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 for being
too bullish in predicting Baghdad might have weapons of mass
destruction.
Its conclusion about North Korea follows more than a month of rising tension on the Korean peninsula.
Asked
about the U.S. reports that Pyongyang may have developed a nuclear
weapon, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "China upholds
the maintenance of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and
pushing for its denuclearization via talks and consultations. No
matter what changes there are in the situation, we will uphold this
direction."
U.N.
sanctions sparked a furious response from Pyongyang. The North has also
called annual military drills between U.S. and South Korean forces a
"hostile" act.
North
Korea has stationed as many as five medium-range missiles on its east
coast, according to defense assessments by Washington and Seoul. South
Korean and U.S. officials believe it is preparing to launch a Musudan
missile, whose range of 3,500 km (2,100 miles) or more would put Japan
within striking distance and may threaten Guam, home to U.S. military
bases.
(Additional
reporting by Jack Kim and Daum Kim in SEOUL, Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING,
John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI, and Patricia Zengerle, Mark Hosenball and
Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Ronald Popeski; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/12/us-korea-north-idUSBRE93408020130412
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