Tag Archives: North Korea

U.N. rights envoy urges prosecution of North Korean leader

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations human rights investigator for North Korea called on Monday for leader Kim Jong Un and senior officials in the country to be prosecuted for committing crimes against humanity.

Marzuki Darusman told the U.N. Human Rights Council that North Korea is devoting huge resources to developing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction while many of its citizens lack sufficient food and others work in “slave-like conditions”.

“We are now at a crucial stage, therefore there is a fundamental need for countries to make that next step in ensuring accountability is undertaken,” he said.

The delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) boycotted the session. The European Union, United States and Japan supported Darusman’s call for accountability, although they did not refer to Kim by name.

Ambassador Robert King, U.S. envoy on North Korea, denounced the “egregious human rights violations committed by the DPRK” and said that the United States would work with other countries to “seek ways to advance accountability for those most responsible”.

China, Pyongyang’s ally, took a more conciliatory tone, saying human rights issues should not be politicized and calling for a comprehensive approach to dealing with North Korea.

China also rejected Darusman’s findings that North Koreans who flee across the border to China were being forced back to their homeland illegally.

North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in a speech to the Geneva forum on March 1, said it would boycott any session that examined its record and would “never, ever” be bound by any such resolutions.

Darusman, referring to a report he issued last month, said: “I would like to reiterate my appeal to the international community to move forward to ensure accountability of the senior leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including that of Mr. Kim Jong Un.”

This could be via the International Criminal Court (ICC) but failing consensus among major powers, North Korea’s leadership could be prosecuted in a third country, he said.

He called for the Council to set up a panel of three experts to look into “structure and methods of accountability”.

Political prison camps, torture, “slave-like labor” and religious persecution remain features of the state apparatus, two years after a landmark U.N. investigation into crimes against humanity, Darusman said.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range missile the following month.

“The denial of human rights to its citizens internally and this aggressive behavior externally are basically two sides of the same coin. The country is pouring a large amount of resources into developing weapons of mass destruction, while large parts of its population continue to suffer from food insecurity,” Darusman said.

John Fisher of Human Rights Watch said that North Korea had “horrific” forced labor camps, public executions and a history of mass malnutrition and even “mass starvation”.

“Generations of North Koreans have suffered at the hands of the Kim family and its elite,” Fisher said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jermey Gaunt)

North Korean leader Kim orders more nuclear tests

A ballistic rocket launch drill of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen at an unknown location, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on March 11, 2016. REUTERS / KCN

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched a ballistic missile launch test and ordered the country to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more tests, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

The report did not say when the test took place but it was probably referring to North Korea’s launch of two short-range missiles on Thursday that flew 300 miles and splashed into the sea.

“Dear comrade Kim Jong Un said work … must be strengthened to improve nuclear attack capability and issued combat tasks to continue nuclear explosion tests to assess the power of newly developed nuclear warheads and tests to improve nuclear attack capability,” KCNA said.

The North Korean leader was quoted in state media this week as saying his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles.

Tensions have risen sharply on the Korean peninsula after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and fired a long-range rocket last month, spurring the U.N. Security Council to adopt a new sanctions resolution.

Conducting more nuclear tests would be in clear violation of U.N. sanctions, which also ban ballistic missile tests, although Pyongyang has rejected them. North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said: “It’s simply rash and thoughtless behavior by someone who has no idea how the world works,” when asked about Kim’s comments.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Pyongyang to “cease destabilizing acts,” adding that he remained “gravely concerned” by the situation.

North Korea has recently stepped up its cyber attack efforts against South Korea and succeeded in hacking the mobile telephones of 40 of its national security officials, said members of parliament who received a closed door briefing by the country’s spy agency.

South Korea has raised its alert against the threat of the North’s cyber attacks and this week said it had intercepted attempts to attack its railway system.

In China, North Korea’s most important economic and diplomatic backer, the top newspaper, the People’s Daily, urged all sides to be “patient and brave”, show goodwill and resume the talks process.

South Korea said it did not believe that North Korea had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead or deployed a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile.

The U.S. Defense Department said this week it had seen no evidence that North Korea had succeeded in miniaturizing a warhead.

However, Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending U.S. air space, told a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday it was “prudent” for him to assume North Korea could both miniaturize a warhead and put it on an ICBM that could target the United States.

“Intel community gives it a very low probability of success, but I do not believe the American people want (me) to base my readiness assessment on a low probability,” he said.

North Korea has issued nearly daily reports in recent days of Kim’s instructions to fight South Korea and the United States as the two allies began large-scale military drills.

North Korea called the annual drills “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive. Kim last week ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The United States and South Korea remain technically at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace agreement.

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park in Seoul, David Brunnstrom and David Alexander in Washington and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clarence Fernandez)

North Korea fires missiles, plans to ‘liquidate’ South Korean assets

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, as South Korean and U.S. forces conducted massive war games.

The North also announced it had scrapped all agreements with the South on commercial exchange projects and would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in its territory.

North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental missiles as well. Thursday’s missiles flew about 300 miles into the sea, off the east coast city of Wonsan and probably were part of the Soviet-developed Scud series, South Korea’s defense ministry said.

Japan, within range of the longer-range variant of Scud missiles or the upgraded Rodong missiles, lodged a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said on Thursday the U.S. Defense Department was aware of the reports of the missile launches. “We are monitoring the situation closely,” he said.

North Korea often fires short-range missiles when tensions rise on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang gets particularly upset about the annual U.S.-South Korea drills, which it says are preparations for an invasion.

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.

Around 17,000 U.S. military personnel are participating alongside some 300,000 South Korean troops in what South Korea’s Defense Ministry has called the “largest-ever” joint military exercises.

North Korea on Sunday warned it would make a “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the exercises.

“LIQUIDATING” ASSETS

After Thursday’s missile launches, North Korea announced it would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in the Kaesong industrial zone and in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone.

South Korea protested the move as “totally unacceptable” but did not say what it could do to recover the assets that it valued in excess of $1.17 billion.

Seoul suspended operations in the jointly run zone last month as punishment for the North’s rocket launch and nuclear test.

Mount Kumgang was the first major inter-Korean cooperation project. Thousands of South Koreans visited the resort between 1998 and 2008. Seoul ended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who wandered into a restricted area.

North Korea is also livid about stepped-up United Nations sanctions adopted last week following its recent nuclear test and long-range missile launch.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Thursday’s missile launches again violated a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions and it would refer the matter to the Council’s sanctions committee mandated to enforce the resolutions.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei described the situation on the Korean peninsula as “complex and sensitive.”

“All sides should stop their provocative words and deeds to avoid a further rise in tensions,” he said.

MINIATURIZED WARHEADS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, state media reported on Wednesday, and called on his military to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea.

It was his first direct comment on the technology needed to deploy nuclear missiles. North Korean state media released photographs they said showed Kim Jong Un inspecting a spherical miniaturized warhead. State media have previously made that claim, which has been widely questioned and never independently verified.

South Korea’s defense ministry said it did not believe the North had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead or deployed a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby declined on Wednesday to comment on Kim’s claim to have miniaturized nuclear warheads and accused him of “provocative rhetoric.”

“I’d say the young man needs to pay more attention to the North Korean people and taking care of them, than in pursuing these sorts of reckless capabilities,” Kirby said.

The Pentagon said this week it had not seen North Korea demonstrate a capability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead. But Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday the department was working on U.S. ballistic missile defenses to be prepared.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 but its claim to have set off a miniaturized hydrogen bomb last month has been disputed by the U.S. and South Korean governments and many experts, who said the blast was too small to back it up.

(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo and David Brunnstrom and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Clarence Fernandez and Jeffrey Benkoe)

U.S. fires rockets in war drill following North Korea’s nuclear threats

CHEORWON, South Korea (Reuters) – There’s more to do in South Korea’s heavily forested Rocket Valley, just a few miles from the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, than fire rockets. In quieter times, people tend vegetable patches along ice-cold streams.

But on Wednesday, a U.S. artillery brigade based in the South heated things up, launching a barrage of rockets close to the border town of Cheorwon.

The live-fire drills came hours after a report by reclusive North Korea that it had miniaturized nuclear warheads to be mounted on ballistic missiles and leader Kim Jong Un had ordered further improvements to its arsenal.

Tension in the region was already high as South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in a test of their defenses against North Korea, which called the drills “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

The U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on North Korea last week for its Jan. 6 nuclear test. The North launched a long-range rocket a month later, drawing international criticism and sanctions from South Korea.

The drills in Rocket Valley were separate to the annual joint U.S.-South Korean maneuvers which involve about 17,000 U.S. troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

They were a test of the U.S. Army M270A1 system, a multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) built by Lockheed Martin that can fire 12 rounds and re-load and move at 40 miles per hour.

One unit was dug in at the foot of Rocket Valley, under the swaying firs. A sonic boom followed the rockets as they screamed over the tree line followed by trails of flame toward targets five miles away, invisible over the ridge lines.

“If North Korea decides to use their long-range artillery, which they have so many pieces of, Seoul would be in direct range,” Captain Harry Lu of the U.S. Army’s 37th Field Artillery Regiment said.

“So our mission here is to make sure we destroy that artillery before they can cause any more damage to the greater Seoul metropolitan area.”

SHRILL THREATS OF WAR

In bellicose rhetoric, North Korea routinely threatens to turn Seoul into a “sea of flames” and the city was reduced to rubble in the 1950-53 Korean conflict, which ended in a truce, not a treaty, meaning the two sides are technically still at war.

Kim Jong Un’s announcement of advances in North Korea’s nuclear program followed his order last week for the country to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea and stand ready to use nuclear weapons.

He issued the command as the North showcased its own MLRS which is carried by a Chinese-made truck and may be able to operate outside the range of similar U.S. and South Korean weapons, according to an expert.

South Korea’s defense ministry said the North’s rockets flew up to 90 miles off the east coast and into the sea, a display of power seen as a response to the U.N. sanctions.

The U.S. 210th Field Artillery Brigade, based in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, is one of the only U.S. battalions that will not move to a newly expanded military base south of the capital under an agreement between South Korean and U.S. defense chiefs.

That is because it is considered part of South Korea’s “counter-fire plan” and contains MLRS, capable of firing a barrage of rockets at a target beyond the range of conventional artillery.

It is one of South Korea’s first lines of defense in the event of war.

“Unless using guided munitions, (multiple-launch rockets) are less accurate than tube artillery but can put a lot of steel downrange with devastating effect,” said Bruce Klinger, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Korea specialist at the CIA.

On Wednesday, the devastating effect was being unleashed over an idyllic landscape which belies its name. In just a few weeks, holiday makers will return to the private cottages, camp sites and vegetable plots that dot the hills to get away from the summer heat of the city.

(Editing by Jack Kim and Nick Macfie)

North Korea’s Kim says country has miniaturized nuclear warheads

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles and ordered improvements in the power and precision of its arsenal, state media reported on Wednesday.

Kim has called for his military to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea and stand ready to use nuclear weapons, stepping up belligerent rhetoric after coming under new U.N. and bilateral sanctions for its nuclear and rocket tests.

U.S. and South Korean troops began large-scale military drills this week, which the North called “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

Kim’s comments, released on Wednesday, were his first direct mention of the claim, made repeatedly in state media, to have successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead, which has been widely questioned and never independently verified.

“The nuclear warheads have been standardized to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturizing them,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying as he inspected the work of nuclear scientists, adding “this can be called a true nuclear deterrent”.

“He stressed the importance of building ever more powerful, precision and miniaturized nuclear weapons and their delivery means,” KCNA said.

Kim also inspected the nuclear warhead designed for thermo-nuclear reaction, KCNA said, referring to a miniaturized hydrogen bomb that the country said it tested on Jan. 6.

Rodong Sinmun, official daily of the North’s ruling party, carried pictures of Kim in what seemed to be a large hangar speaking to aides standing in front of a silver spherical object.

They also showed a large object similar to the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) previously put on display at military parades, with Kim holding a half-smoked cigarette in one of the images.

South Korea’s defense ministry said after the release of the images that it did not believe the North has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead or deployed a functioning ICBM.

That assessment is in line with the views of South Korean and U.S. officials that the North has likely made some advances in trying to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, but that there is no proof it has mastered the technology.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking by telephone to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, described the situation on the Korean peninsula as “very tense” and called for all parties be remain calm and exercise restraint, China’s foreign ministry said.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 claiming to have set off a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, which was disputed by many experts and the governments of South Korea and the United States. The blast detected from the test was simply too small to back up the claim, experts said at the time.

The U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state last week for the nuclear test. It launched a long-range rocket in February drawing international criticism and sanctions from its rival, South Korea.

South Korea on Tuesday announced further measures aimed at isolating the North by blacklisting individuals and entities that it said were linked to Pyongyang’s weapons program.

China also stepped up pressure on the North by barring one of the 31 ships on its transport ministry’s blacklist.

But a U.N. panel set up to monitor sanctions under an earlier Security Council resolution adopted in 2009 said in a report released on Tuesday that it had “serious questions about the efficacy of the current U.N. sanctions regime.”

North Korea has been “effective in evading sanctions” by continuing to engage in banned trade, “facilitated by the low level of implementation of Security Council resolutions by Member States,” the Panel of Experts said.

“The reasons are diverse, but include lack of political will, inadequate enabling legislation, lack of understanding of the resolutions and low prioritization,” it said.

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and James Pearson in Seoul and Jessica Macy Yu in Beijing; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)

North Korea tried to hack South’s railway system, spy agency claims

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has tried to hack into email accounts of South Korean railway workers in an attempt to attack the transport system’s control system, South Korea’s spy agency said on Tuesday.

South Korea has been on heightened alert against the threat of cyberattacks by North Korea after it conducted a nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month, triggering new U.N. sanctions.

South Korea had previously blamed the North for cyberattacks against its nuclear power operator. North Korea denied that.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement it had interrupted the hacking attempt against the railway workers and closed off their email accounts.

The agency issued the statement after an emergency meeting with other government agencies on the threat of cyberattacks by the North.

The agency detected hacking attempts by the North against workers for two regional railway networks this year, the spy agency said.

“The move was a step to prepare for cyber terror against the railway transport control system,” the agency said.

It did not elaborate on what it thought North Korea’s specific objective was in hacking into the system. An agency official reached by telephone declined to comment.

North Korea has been working for years to develop the ability to disrupt or destroy computer systems that control public services such as telecommunications and other utilities, according to a defector from the North.

The United States accused North Korea of a cyberattack against Sony Pictures in 2014 that led to the studio cancelling the release of a comedy based on the fictional assassination of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

North Korea denied the accusation.

In 2013, South Korea blamed the North for crippling cyber-attacks that froze the computer systems of its banks and broadcasters for days.

New fears of attacks on South Korea’s computer systems came as South Korean and U.S. troops conducted large-scale military exercises which North Korea denounced as “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out military offensive.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Robert Birsel)

U.S. takes North Korea nuclear threats seriously, State Department says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Monday the United States took North Korean threats to use nuclear weapons seriously and urged Pyongyang to halt its provocations, including testing nuclear devices and long-range rockets.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country last week to be prepared to use nuclear weapons at any time and to be ready to carry out a pre-emptive attack, state media reported.

His comments came as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted annual military exercises amid heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North’s recent nuclear and missile tests, which prompted the United Nations to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang.

“We certainly do take those kinds of threats seriously … and again call on Pyongyang to cease with the provocative rhetoric, cease with the threats and quite frankly, more critically, cease with the provocative behavior, the actual conduct, that has led to yet another round of international sanctions,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)

South Korea, U.S. begin military exercises as North Korea threatens attack

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defenses against North Korea, which called the drills “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a U.N. Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programs, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The joint U.S. and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of “the non-provocative nature of this training” involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

North Korea’s National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would “realize the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification”, in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.

“The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers’ hysterical nuclear war moves,” the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North’s KCNA news agency.

The North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The threat on Monday was in line with the usual rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei noted that North Korea had already said it opposed the drills, adding that Beijing was “deeply concerned” about the exercises.

“China is linked to the Korean Peninsula. In terms of the peninsula’s security, China is deeply concerned and firmly opposed to any trouble-making behavior on the peninsula’s doorstep. We urge all sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate tensions,” he told a daily news briefing.

The latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea’s spy agency said it would hold an emergency cyber-security meeting on Tuesday to check readiness against any threat of cyber attack from the North, after detecting evidence of attempts by the North to hack into South Korean mobile phones.

South Korea has been on heightened cyber alert since the nuclear test and the rocket launch.

South Korea and the U.S. militaries began talks on Friday on the deployment of an advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in South Korea.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in Beijing; Editing by Robert Birsel)

North Korea leader tells military to be ready to use nuclear weapons

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in “pre-emptive attack” mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.

The comments, carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear program.

North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturized warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the United States.

Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Thursday the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, up to 90 miles away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions.

Kim said North Korea should “bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity” and stressed “the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment,” KCNA quoted him as saying.

“Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect.”

Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting “in league with the U.S. scoundrels,” adding, “her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run,” KCNA said.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kim’s comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new U.N. sanctions.

Responding to the report, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said, “We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that given the sensitive and complex situation on the Korean peninsula, China hoped the parties would maintain restraint, and “be careful in their words and actions, and not take any actions that would exacerbate tensions in this situation”.

The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, the North’s main ally, punish the isolated country following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last month’s satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

Later on Friday, North Korea rejected the Security Council resolution as a “criminal act” masterminded by the United States and vowed to continue boosting its nuclear deterrent and move forward on the path to become a “satellite superpower”.

“Our response will involve the full use of various means and tools including a strong and ruthless physical response,” KCNA quoted an unnamed government spokesman as saying.

POSSIBLE ENGINE TEST EYED

South Korea and the U.S. militaries are set to formally begin talks on Friday on deployment of the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system with the U.S. military in the South.

China and Russia oppose the deployment of THAAD, which has powerful radar capable of penetrating deep into their countries, but South Korea and the United States have said it is needed in response to the heightened missile threat from the North.

Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said recent commercial satellite imagery showed new activity in the isolated country, including a convoy of trucks at its satellite launch station that could be preparations for a rocket-engine test.

The site on the North’s west coast is the upgraded rocket station where it launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 that put an object into space, but was condemned by the Security Council as violation of past resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the North.

On Thursday, South Korean President Park repeated a warning to the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and said she would work to “end tyranny” by its leader.

They were the toughest-ever comments against Pyongyang by Park, whose recent hard line against the North is a shift from her earlier policy of “trustpolitik” that focused on trying to engage in dialogue.

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, the official daily newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, on Friday carried three pages of a report and photographs of leader Kim supervising the rocket launch drills.

It also ran a full-page commentary insulting Park as “a wicked woman who does everything evil against the compatriots in the North.”

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

North Korea fires projectiles after new U.N. sanctions

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired several short-range projectiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after the U.N. Security Council voted to impose tough new sanctions on the isolated state and the South Korean president vowed to end Pyongyang’s “tyranny.”

The firing escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula, which have been high since North Korea recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, and set the South’s military on a heightened alert.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it was trying to determine if the projectiles, launched at 10 a.m. from the North’s east coast, were short-range missiles or artillery fire.

The firing came after the U.N. Security Council passed a unanimous resolution on Wednesday dramatically expanding sanctions on North Korea following its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said North Korea’s action showed it had not taken the proper lesson from the latest round of sanctions.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said Pyongyang should “refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations,” while a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China hoped all parties could refrain from actions that escalate tension.

Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Motohide Yoshikawa, said the firing was North Korea’s reaction to the latest sanctions and, “They may do something more.”

South Korean President Park Geun-hye welcomed the tougher Security Council sanctions and repeated a call for North Korea to change its behavior.

“We will cooperate with the world to make the North Korean regime abandon its reckless nuclear development and end tyranny that oppresses freedom and human rights of our brethren in the North,” Park said at a Christian prayer meeting.

Park has been tough in her response to the North’s recent actions, moving from her earlier self-described “trustpolitik.”

Last month, Seoul suspended the operation of a jointly run factory project with North Korea that had been the rivals’ last remaining venue for regular interaction.

On Thursday, South Korea adopted a long-delayed security law to set up an anti-espionage unit and another law aimed at improving human rights in North Korea.

In its latest barrage of insults against South Korea’s leader, North Korea’s official media carried a commentary on Wednesday likening Park to an “ugly female bat,” fated to “die in the dreary cave, its body hanging down.”

(Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau at the UNITED NATIONS; Editing by Alex Richardson and Bill Trott)