Tag Archives: North Korea

Secretive North Korea lifts veil on arms program

KCNA file picture shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looking at a rocket warhead tip after a simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile

By Jack Kim and David Brunnstrom

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ahead of a rare ruling party Congress next month, secretive North Korea is revealing details of its weapons development program for the first time, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions.

Until recently, information on the North’s weapons program was hard to come by, with foreign governments and experts relying on satellite imagery, tiny samples of atomic particles collected after nuclear tests and mangled parts and materials recovered from long-range rocket launches.

No longer. In just over a month, the North has published articles with technicolor photographic detail on a range of tests and other activities that point to fast-paced efforts to build a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The reason for the revelations, many analysts say, is that Pyongyang believes convincing the world, and its own people, of its nuclear prowess is as important as the prowess itself. Nevertheless, isolated North Korea’s true capabilities and intentions remain unknown.

“Close-up pictures of ground test activities are almost unprecedented from the DPRK,” John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specializing in satellite and launch vehicle propulsion systems, told Reuters.

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name. The reclusive state has conducted four nuclear tests in the past 10 years, the last in January.

“The openness suggests that the underlying strategy is as much diplomatic as military: it is important to Pyongyang not only that they have these capabilities, but that we believe they have these capabilities,” Schilling said.

In its latest revelations, North Korean state media reported on Saturday that the country had carried out a successful test of a new ICBM engine. Pictures showed what experts said were the engines of two Soviet-designed R-27 missiles clustered together, ejecting two exhaust plumes.

The claims indicate the North has no intention of slowing down, despite last month’s United Nations sanctions and stern warnings from Washington and elsewhere, said Michael Elleman, a U.S.-based rocket expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“The revelations, pronouncements and ‘tests’ appear to be part of a campaign to establish the narrative that Pyongyang has, or will soon have, a nuclear-armed, long-range missile that could threaten the U.S. mainland,” he said.

“Each unveiling, if real, would be part of a structured program aimed at developing the capability. The open question is: How real are these tests?”

The activities are likely to be watched closely by U.N. experts assigned to enforce sanctions prohibiting the North from engaging in work that involves ballistic missile technology.

CONVINCING THE DOUBTERS?

There is an increasing feeling among international arms experts that North Korea’s capability may be more advanced than previously thought. It could have a primitive but operable ICBM “later this decade,” said a U.S. government source with intelligence on the North’s weapons program.

Overcoming such scepticism, and fuelling alarm for its neighbors and the United States, may be the intended effect, with significant domestic propaganda value ahead of the May ruling party congress, said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

“To a normal military, arms development is supposed to be classified,” he said. “But Kim Jong Un had years of the South and the U.S. putting his military down, so now he wants to maximize the perceived threat of what he’s trying to develop.”

The recent ICBM engine test followed the March test of a solid-fuel rocket engine and a simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a missile warhead.

Kim has vowed another nuclear warhead test soon, which would be the country’s fifth. Some analysts say it could be timed to take place just before the congress, at which Kim is likely to unveil an official policy of twinning economic development with nuclear capability.

Kim also claimed in March that his country has miniaturized a nuclear warhead to be mounted on a ballistic missile. Media reports displayed a spherical object and a jubilant Kim standing before a large rocket-shaped object similar to the KN-08 ICBM.

The choreographed manner in which the weapons tests appear to be taking place also points to political posturing rather than rigorous technical examination, some analysts have said.

Given the North’s secrecy, penchant for bombastic propaganda and history of manipulating photographic and video images, its claims are still met with plenty of scepticism.

“I am still not convinced that everything really is what they want us to believe it is,” said German aerospace engineer Markus Schiller, who has closely followed the North’s missile development program.

(Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

North Korea claims rocket engine success; South Korea on high alert

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea successfully tested a solid-fuel engine that boosted the power of its ballistic rockets, state media reported on Thursday, as South Korea’s president ordered the military to be ready to respond to the North’s “reckless provocation”.

Pyongyang’s claim indicates it is continuing to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at a rapid pace in defiance of U.N. sanctions, and amid assessment by the South’s officials that it could conduct a new nuclear test at any time.

The isolated state has in recent weeks stepped up bellicose rhetoric, threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul, as well as making claims of advancement in its weapons technology.

The Rodong Sinmum, the North’s ruling party newspaper, carried photos of leader Kim Jong Un on site as a rocket engine laid horizontally on the ground emitted a fiery blast. A two-page report detailed the testing of the engine’s structure and thrust.

“He noted with great pleasure that the successful test… helped boost the power of ballistic rockets capable of mercilessly striking hostile forces,” KCNA news agency said.

The North said last week it had conducted a successful simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile, and would soon test ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

On Wednesday, the North repeated the threat to attack the South’s presidential office, saying its large-caliber multiple rocket launch systems are on alert to strike the Blue House and its special operations unit is ready to go into action.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye ordered a heightened state of alert and put the military on standby to “respond actively to reckless provocations by the North,” according to her office.

The current tension on the peninsula follows the United Nations Security Council’s recent imposition of tough new sanctions against the North over its nuclear and missile programs, and as South Korea and the United States conduct annual joint military drills.

The North calls the exercises “nuclear war moves” and has threatened to respond with an all-out offensive, as well as a series of rocket launches in recent days.

SOLID FUEL ROCKET ENGINE

Pyongyang has previously launched long-range rockets that used liquid fuel but it was seen to lack the capability to build solid-fuel long-range or intercontinental missiles.

Solid-fuel rockets have advantages in military use, although liquid fuel rockets are considered more sophisticated as their thrust can be controlled in flight.

The North has deployed short and medium-range missiles and test fired them, but never flight-tested the KN-08 ICBM it is believed to be developing.

The KN-08, which has been put on display at military parades and in official news media, appears to have a three-stage design that is likely intended to use solid fuel, according to experts.

Despite its boasts to be making progress, many experts believe the North is a decade or more away from building an ICBM capable of threatening the United States.

The North’s stepped-up rhetoric and weapons claims come ahead of its planned congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, which will be the first in more than 35 years.

Some Pyongyang-watchers say the North may look to claim a splashy achievement, such as a fifth nuclear test, in the run-up to the conference as young leader Kim Jong Un looks to bolster his legitimacy domestically.

“North Korea may think it is better for them to complete their nuclear weapons program and negotiate later, rather than just to sit back until it withers and dies,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said.

The North is ready to conduct a fifth nuclear test “now, immediately,” the South’s unification ministry said on Monday.

Its nuclear test site remained active, undergoing maintenance on existing tunnels as well as clean-up following the January test, according to 38 North, a project of the U.S. Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will push his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama next week to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and James Pearson; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Tony Munroe)

U.S. hopes for talks with China about possible missile defense deployment to South Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States hopes to talk with China and address its concerns about the possible deployment of the THAAD missile defense system that Washington is discussing with Seoul, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.

Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, stressed that the United States and South Korea had just begun discussions, and no decision had been made to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

Gottemoeller also emphasized that the system was defensive in nature and aimed at North Korea, not China.

“THAAD is truly only capable of defending the territory on which it’s deployed. It is not capable of the kind of reach that the Chinese seem to be afraid that it has,” she told reporters at a breakfast meeting.

“We will be very glad and hope we’ll have the opportunity to sit down and talk with China about those very technical limitations and facts about the system,” she said.

Gottemoeller gave no timetable for a possible meeting.

The United States and South Korea agreed to begin the talks last month after North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 carrying what it called a satellite.

Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, North Korea’s neighbor and main ally, last month underscored China’s concerns about a possible THAAD deployment but seemed to open the door to a diplomatic solution.

Wang said China understood the desire of the United States and South Korea to ensure the defense of their own countries, but Beijing had legitimate concerns that should be addressed.

U.S. military officials have long said the THAAD system is needed in South Korea, but until North Korea’s recent satellite launch, Seoul had been reluctant to openly discuss its deployment given the risk of damaging ties with China.

Army Lieutenant General David Mann, commander, U.S. Army Space & Missile Command, told reporters that the THAAD system would result in a “huge increase” in missile defense capabilities on the Korean peninsula. But he said Washington understood the sensitivity of the discussions given the concerns raised by China, one of South Korea’s key trading partners.

“It’s very, very important that we clarify that that radar, that system is not looking at China,” he said. “If the decision is made to deploy it, that system would be oriented on North Korea and threats posed by the North Korean military.”

The system was designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final phase of flight.

Mann said the Army would complete training for its fifth THAAD system by the end of the year. He said Japan was also interested in the system, as were U.S. military commanders in Europe and the Middle East.

Once a site was approved and prepared, the THAAD system could be deployed “in a matter of weeks,” Mann said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

North Korea fires short-range projectiles into sea amid tension over nuclear ambitions

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired five short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said, amid heightened tension over the isolated country’s nuclear and rocket programs.

The unidentified projectiles were launched from south of the city of Hamhung and flew about 120 miles, landing in waters east of North Korea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

On Friday, North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles into the sea in defiance of tough new U.N. and U.S. sanctions slapped on the country following nuclear and rocket tests earlier this year.

“North Korea should refrain from all provocative actions, including missile launches, which are in clear violation of U.N. resolutions,” Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, told reporters in Seoul when asked about Monday’s firing.

In recent weeks, North Korea has stepped up its bellicose rhetoric, threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul and firing short-range missiles and artillery into the sea.

The North protests annual ongoing joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week that the country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in what would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions that have the backing of Pyongyang’s chief ally, China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China was “deeply concerned” about the situation on the Korean peninsula.

“We hope North Korea does not do anything to contravene U.N. Security Council resolutions. We also hope all sides can remain calm and exercise restraint and avoid doing anything to exacerbate confrontation or tensions,” she told a daily news briefing.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and James Pearson; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie and Tony Munroe)

Defiant North Korea fires ballistic missile into sea, Japan protests

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Friday, one of which flew about 800 km (500 miles) while the other exploded shortly after launch, U.S. officials said, as the isolated state stepped up its defiance of tough new U.N. and U.S. sanctions.

U.S. officials told Reuters the medium-range missiles appeared to be fired from road-mobile launchers.

One missile, fired from north of the capital, Pyongyang, flew across the peninsula and into the sea off the east coast early Friday morning, South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

That would mark North Korea’s first test of a medium-range missile, one of which was capable of reaching Japan, since 2014.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the second missile flew a short period before exploding.

South Korea did not confirm the type of missile but U.S. officials said they were medium-range ballistic missiles.

A range of 800 km was likely beyond the capability of most short-range missiles in North Korea’s arsenal. The North’s Rodong missile has an estimated maximum range of 1,300 km (810 miles), according to the South’s defense ministry.

North Korea’s action provoked a barrage of criticism and appeals.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang urged it to abide by U.N. resolutions and not do anything to exacerbate tensions.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the United States was “analyzing the results of those launches,” but called on Beijing to use its influence over Pyongyang.

“China could do a lot more,” Carter said, adding Beijing should seek a nuclear-free North Korea.

The U.S. State Department in a statement urged North Korea to focus on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.

Japan lodged a protest with North Korea through its embassy in Beijing, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament.

“Japan strongly demands North Korea to exercise self-restraint and will take all necessary measures, such as warning and surveillance activity, to be able to respond to any situations,” Abe said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Pyongyang should focus on improving the lives of its people and that provocative actions would help nothing.

NUCLEAR WARHEADS

North Korea often fires missiles during periods of tension on the Korean peninsula or when it comes under pressure to curb its defiance and abandon its weapons programs.

Last week, the North fired two short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast and its leader Kim Jong Un ordered more nuclear weapons tests and missile tests.

That came after North Korean media said the North had miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles and quoted Kim as calling on the military to prepare for a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” against the United States and South Korea.

U.S. President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday over its nuclear test and satellite launch. The sanctions freeze North Korean government assets in the United States, bans U.S. exports to, or investment in, North Korea, and expands a U.S. blacklist to anyone, including non-Americans, who deals with North Korea.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 in defiance of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The North has called annual joint drills by U.S. and South Korean troops that began on March 7 “nuclear war moves” and threatened to wipe out its enemies.

The U.S. and South Korea remain technically at war with the North because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement. In recent weeks, the two Koreas have suspended economic ties over the mounting tensions.

South Korea and U.S. officials this month began discussions on deploying the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system to the U.S. military in the South, despite Chinese and Russian objections.

On Wednesday, North Korea’s supreme court sentenced a visiting American student to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state, a punishment Washington condemned as politically motivated.

(Additional reporting by Tokyo newsroom, Phil Stewart in Washington and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Bill Tarrant and James Dalgleish)

Hallowed leader’s name behind U.S. student’s jailing in North Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) – The U.S. student sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by North Korea’s supreme court was convicted for trying to steal a banner invoking former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, state media footage of the trial indicates.

The court sentenced the student, Otto Warmbier, on Wednesday for “crimes against the state”, North Korean media reported.

The United States condemned the punishment as politically motivated and called on North Korea to pardon the University of Virginia student from Wyoming, Ohio, and release him on humanitarian grounds.

The sentencing came as North Korea is increasingly isolated and facing tough new U.N. resolutions following a nuclear test in January and a rocket launch last month. A White House spokesman said it was “increasingly clear” North Korea sought to use U.S. citizens as pawns to pursue a political agenda.

North Korean state media said Warmbier had tried to steal an item bearing a political slogan. A state media picture showed a banner, presented as evidence during his one-hour trial, appearing to bear a slogan extolling the country’s late leader.

Although the name was censored in the photograph, it is likely the slogan read: “Let’s arm ourselves strongly with Kim Jong Il patriotism!”

The phrase “Kim Jong Il Patriotism” was used heavily to glorify the late leader after he died in 2011. The slogan has been described by his son and successor, Kim Jong Un, as the “crystallization of socialist patriotism”.

Images and references to North Korea’s leaders, who are treated with almost god-like status in propaganda, are sacrosanct.

Ordinary North Koreans are required to keep and carefully maintain portraits of former leaders Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung. A special large, bold typeface is used when their names are printed.

The court showed still CCTV images of Warmbier, 21, entering a staff-only part of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which towers above the capital, Pyongyang, from an island in the middle of the Taedong River.

Warmbier was at the end of a five-day group tour when he was stopped at the airport and taken away, according to the tour operator that arranged the trip.

In a statement last month, Warmbier confessed to “severe crimes” against the state.

FOOTAGE AND FINGERPRINTS

Warmbier entered the restricted area of the hotel in the early hours of Jan. 1, according to a time stamp on a CCTV image used as part of witness testimony to identify Warmbier.

That witness was Warmbier’s North Korean tour guide, identified as Mr Byon, sources who recognized him confirmed to Reuters after studying the footage.

The shirt and boots worn by Warmbier at the time along with his passport, mobile phone and an ID card were also given as evidence in the trial, the footage showed.

“When I got off work, there was nothing amiss,” a second witness, apparently a hotel staff member, told the court.

“But when I returned, I thought someone had deliberately taken the slogan down, so I mobilized security to prevent damage to it and reported it to the authorities.”

The court showed images on a flat screen showing efforts to match fingerprints from the banner with Warmbier’s fingerprints.

Photos of the trial showed Warmbier marking copies of indictment and sentencing documents with red ink on his thumb.

As he was led from the court in handcuffs, Warmbier appeared to turn to Swedish ambassador to North Korea Torkel Stiernlöf, who was present at the trial, and ask him to “keep working” on his case, according to the footage.

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea and is represented in consular matters there by the Swedish embassy.

North Korea has a long history of detaining foreigners and has used jailed Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the United States to secure their release.

(Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel)

Obama slaps new sanctions on North Korea after tests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama imposed sweeping new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday intended to further isolate the country’s leadership after recent actions by Pyongyang that have been seen by Washington and its allies as provocative.

The executive order freezes any property of the North Korean government in the United States and prohibits exportation of goods from the United States to North Korea.

It also allows the U.S. government to blacklist any individuals, whether or not they are U.S. citizens, who deal with major sectors of North Korea’s economy. Experts said the measures vastly expanded the U.S. blockade against Pyongyang.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Jan. 6, and a Feb. 7 rocket launch that the United States and its allies said employed banned ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch.

“The U.S. and the global community will not tolerate North Korea’s illicit nuclear and ballistic missile activities, and we will continue to impose costs on North Korea until it comes into compliance with its international obligations,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Despite decades of tensions, the United States has not had a comprehensive trade ban against North Korea of the kind enacted against Myanmar and Iran. Americans were allowed to make limited sales to North Korea, although in practice such trade was tiny.

U.S. officials had believed a blanket trade ban would be ineffective without a stronger commitment from China, North Korea’s largest trading partner. But with China signing on to new U.N. sanctions earlier this month, that obstacle has been removed, experts said.

“North Korean sanctions are finally getting serious,” said Peter Harrell, a former senior State Department official who worked on sanctions.

The new sanctions threaten to ban from the global financial system anyone, even Europeans and Asians, who does business with broad swaths of Pyongyang’s economy, including its financial, mining and transportation sectors.

The so-called secondary sanctions will compel banks to freeze the assets of anyone who breaks the blockade, potentially squeezing out North Korea’s business ties in China and Myanmar.

“It’s going to be very hard for North Korea to move money anywhere in the world,” said Harrell, now with the Center for a New American Security.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

U.S. military leaders voice concern about readiness of forces

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. military leaders voiced concern on Wednesday about their ability to fight a war with global powers like Russia, telling a congressional hearing that a lack of resources and training was weighing on America’s combat readiness.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley told a House Armed Services Committee hearing that if the Army were to fight a “great power war” with China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, he had “grave concerns” about the readiness of his forces.

“(The Army) is not at the levels that can execute satisfactorily … in terms of time, cost in terms of casualties or cost in terms of military objectives,” Milley said.

Also speaking at the hearing, about the Fiscal 2017 budget request for the military, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said half of her combat forces were not “sufficiently ready” for fighting against a country like Russia.

“Money is helpful for readiness but freeing up the time of our people to go and do this training is equally important,” James said.

Earlier this month Air Force officials said they were facing a shortage of more than 500 fighter pilots, a gap expected to widen to more than 800 by 2022.

U.S. military spending has increased sharply since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the country has by far the largest military budget in the world.

The Army requested $148 billion in the fiscal 2017 budget, a slight increase from the $146.9 billion Army budget for 2016.

However, the 2017 Army budget would continue to shrink the size of the U.S. Army, which will drop to 460,000 active duty soldiers in 2017 from the current 475,000.

Concern over a more assertive Russia was highlighted earlier this month by Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the NATO supreme allied commander and head of U.S. European Command, when he said Russia posed a “long-term existential threat to the United States.”

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Tom Brown)

North Korea sentences U.S. student to hard labor, Washington condemns punishment

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s supreme court sentenced American student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested while visiting the country, to 15 years of hard labor on Wednesday for crimes against the state, a punishment Washington condemned as politically motivated.

The U.S. State Department called the sentence “unduly harsh” and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was “increasingly clear” that North Korea sought to use U.S. citizens as pawns to pursue a political agenda.

Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, was detained in January for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang, North Korean media said previously.

“The accused confessed to the serious offense against the DPRK he had committed, pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward it, in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist,” the state-controlled KCNA news agency reported, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency published a picture of Warmbier being led from the courtroom by two guards, with his head bowed, but visibly distressed.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner called on North Korea to pardon Warmbier, a student from Wyoming, Ohio, and release him immediately on humanitarian grounds.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Washington, Toner said the case underscored the risks associated with travel to North Korea, and added: “The Department of State strongly recommends against all travel by U.S. citizens to North Korea.”

Toner said a representative of the Swedish embassy, which looks after U.S. affairs in North Korea, had visited Warmbier in prison and was present at the sentencing.

“We’re going to remain in very close coordination with the Swedes on this matter. It’s my understanding that he was in reasonable health,” Toner said.

The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, a country with which it remains technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Human Rights Watch also condemned the sentence. “North Korea’s sentencing of Otto Warmbier to 15 years hard labor for a college-style prank is outrageous and shocking, and should not be permitted to stand,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW’s Asia division, said in an emailed statement.

Warmbier’s defense attorney said the gravity of his crime was such that he would not be able to pay even with his death but proposed to the court a sentence reduced from the prosecution’s request of a life sentence, KCNA said.

Last month, Warmbier told a media conference in Pyongyang that his crime was “very severe and pre-planned.”

Warmbier’s parents could not immediately be reached.

A spokesman for the University of Virginia said the school was in touch with Warmbier’s family, but declined further comment. Warmbier majors in economics with a minor in global sustainability, according to his social media profiles.

Warmbier was at the end of a five-day New Year’s group tour of North Korea when he was delayed at airport immigration before being taken away by officials, according to the tour operator that had arranged the trip.

Warmbier’s sentencing comes as North Korea is increasingly isolated over its nuclear weapons program. This month the U.N. Security Council imposed tough new resolutions month following a North Korea nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama issued an executive order imposing “robust new sanctions” on North Korea after its Jan. 6 nuclear test and Feb. 7 rocket launch that used ballistic missile technology, the White House said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said this week that the country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, in what would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions.

North Korea has a long history of detaining foreigners and has used jailed Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the United States.

North Korea is also holding a Korean-Canadian Christian pastor it sentenced to hard labor for life in December for subversion, a Korean-American and three South Koreans.

It has previously handed down lengthy sentences to foreigners before freeing them.

In 2014, North Korea released three detained Americans.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is also a Republican presidential candidate, called on North Korea to release Warmbier, saying his detention was completely unjustified.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who had previously traveled to North Korea, met the North’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday to press for Warmbier’s release, the New York Times reported.

“I urged the humanitarian release of Otto, and they agreed to convey our request,” Richardson was quoted as saying.

While most tourists to North Korea are from China, roughly 6,000 Westerners visit annually, although the United States and Canada advise against it. Most visitors are curious about life in the reclusive state and ignore critics who say their dollars prop up a repressive system.

(Additional reporting by James Pearson and Ben Klayman in Detroit and Doina Chiacu, Jeff Mason, Timothy Garder and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry and James Dalgleish)

Kim Jong Un says North Korea will soon test nuclear warhead

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the North’s KCNA news agency reported, in what would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions which have the backing of the North’s chief ally, China.

Kim made the comments as he supervised a successful simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile that measured the “thermodynamic structural stability of newly developed heat-resisting materials”, KCNA said.

“Declaring that a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-fire of several kinds of ballistic rockets able to carry nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time to further enhance the reliance of nuclear attack capability, he (Kim) instructed the relevant section to make prearrangement for them to the last detail,” the agency said.

South Korea’s defense ministry said there were no indications of activities at the North’s nuclear test site or its long-range rocket station, but that North Korea continues to maintain readiness to conduct nuclear tests.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the North would lead itself to self-destruction if it did not change and continued the confrontation with the international community.

The North’s report comes amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula as South Korean and U.S. troops stage annual military exercises that Seoul has described as the largest ever.

In the apparent re-entry simulation, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party carried pictures on Tuesday of a dome-shaped object placed under what appeared to be a rocket engine and being blasted with flaming exhaust. In separate images, Kim observed the object described by KCNA as a warhead tip.

The North has issued belligerent statements almost daily since coming under a new U.N. resolution adopted this month to tighten sanctions against it after a nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket last month.

In 1962, the United States launched a ballistic missile with a live warhead in what was known as the Frigate Bird test. China conducted a similar test in 1966.

“What would be terrible is if the DPRK (North Korea) re-enacted Operation Frigate Bird or the fourth Chinese nuclear test and did a two-in-one,” said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

“For now, though, it looks like a nuclear test and several missile tests in close succession.”

TECHNOLOGY DOUBTS

South Korea’s defense ministry said after the North’s report that it still does not believe the North has acquired missile re-entry technology.

U.S. and South Korean experts have said the general consensus is that North Korea has not yet successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

More crucially, the consensus is that there have been no tests to prove it has mastered the re-entry technology needed to bring a payload back into the atmosphere.

Kim said last week his country had miniaturized a nuclear warhead.

The North, which has conducted four nuclear tests, also claims that its January nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb, although most experts said the blast was too small for it to have been from a full-fledged hydrogen bomb.

The North also says the satellites it has launched into orbit are functioning successfully, although that has not been verified independently.

North Korea rejects criticism of its nuclear and missile programs, even from old ally China, saying it has a sovereign right to defend itself from threats and to run a space program putting satellites into orbit.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged prudence.

“We urge all the relevant sides to conscientiously carry out what is required by the U.N. Security Council, speak and act cautiously, and all relevant sides must not take any action that would exacerbate tensions on the Korean peninsula,” said ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a regular briefing.

The new U.N. Security Council resolution sharply expanded existing sanctions by requiring member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea and banning the North’s trade of coal when it is seen as funding its arms program.

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China discussed the new sanctions against North Korea by telephone late on Monday and agreed it was important to implement them “in a complete and comprehensive manner”, China said on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park in Seoul, John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Nick Macfie)