North Korea 'readying nuke test'

As world leaders meet in China to foster Asian economic growth, Australian PM Julia Gillard warns of the regional consequences of North Korean aggression. Lindsey Parietti reports.

NORTH Korea has told other nations that it will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in the North's capital beginning Wednesday.

A South Korean national security official said yesterday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act.

Citing North Korea's suggestion that diplomats leave the country, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director said the North may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.

In Washington, an adviser to President Barack Obama said "we wouldn't be surprised if they did a test. They've done that in the past."

Aide Dan Pfeiffer told US network ABC's This Week that "the key here is for the North Koreans to stop their actions, start meeting their international obligations, and put themselves in a position where they can achieve what is their stated goal, which is economic development, which will only happen if they rejoin the international community.'"

He told Fox News Sunday that "the onus is on the North Koreans to do the right thing here," adding that "they are the source of the problem and the only way to solve this is for them to take a step back."

If they don't, there will be consequences, Mr Pfeiffer said. "They will be able to further isolate themselves in the world, they will continue to further hurt themselves. The North Korean people are starving because of actions like the ones North Koreans are taking right now."

A file photo shows the launch of a missile in Musudan-ri, North Korea in 2009. South Korea's national security director said the North may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday.

US Senator Lindsey Graham said he could see a "major war happening'' if North Korea overplays its hand. If that occurs, Mr Graham told NBC's Meet the Press, the North would lose and South Korea would win, with the help of the United States.

US General James Thurman, the commander of the 28,000 American troops in South Korea, will stay in Seoul as "a prudent measure'" rather than travel to Washington to appear this coming week before congressional committees, Army Colonel Amy Hannah said in an email to The Associated Press.

General Thurman has asked the Senate Armed Services Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Appropriations subcommittee on defence to excuse his absence until he can testify at a later date.

The top US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, who just wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan, said he had consulted with General Thurman about the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

General Dempsey said both General Thurman and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, General Jung Seung-jo, decided it would be best for them to remain in Seoul rather than come to Washington. The Korean general had planned to meet with General Dempsey, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, in mid-April for regular talks.

General Dempsey said that instead of meeting in person with Generals Thurman and Jung in Washington, they will consult together by video-teleconference.

Asked whether he foresees North Korea taking military action soon, General Dempsey told The Associated Press, "No, but I can't take the chance that it won't," and thus the Pentagon has bolstered its missile defenses and taken other precautions.

The Pentagon also has postponed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that was set for the coming week at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a senior defence official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The official said US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to put off the long-planned Minuteman 3 test until April because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis. Mr Hagel made the decision Friday, the official said.

North Korea's military said this past week that it was authorised to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons. North Korea also conducted a nuclear test in February and in December launched a long-range rocket that could potentially hit the continental US.

The US has moved two of the Navy's missile-defense ships closer to the Korean peninsula, and a land-based system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its US-based missile defenses.

The defence official, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the Minuteman 3 test delay and requested anonymity, said US policy continues to support the building and testing of its nuclear deterrent capabilities. The official said the launch was not put off because of any technical problems.

General Dempsey said he was not familiar with details of the Minuteman decision because he was travelling in Afghanistan.

But, he said, "it would be consistent with our intent here, which is to do what we have to do to posture ourselves to deter (North Korea), and to assure our allies. So things that can be delayed should be delayed."

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US expecting North Korea missile

South Korean reports say North Korea has moved a second missile and loaded it onto a mobile launch vehicle.

THE White House says it "would not be surprised" if North Korea carries out another missile test, with reports Pyongyang has moved two mid-range rockets to its eastern coast.

"We've obviously seen the reports that North Korea may be making preparations to launch a missile, and we're monitoring this situation closely," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters today.

"We would not be surprised to see them take such an action. We have seen them launch missiles in the past ... And it would fit their current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric and actions," he said.

"We urge them to stop with the provocations and to focus instead on meeting their international obligations and feeding their own people.

North Korea appears to have moved a medium range missile capable of hitting targets in Sth Korea and Japan.

"They are only making themselves more and more isolated from the rest of the world."

NORTH KOREA TO LAUNCH NUCLEAR STRIKE AT US

The Pentagon declined to confirm reports about the missiles from South Korea's Yonhap news agency, but warned North Korea that "further provocative action would be regrettable".

THE TWO FACES OF KIM JONG-UN

Musudan-class missiles, pictured at a military parade in honour of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung's 100th birthday, appear to have been moved to its east coast, the South's Yonhap news agency reported. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones

Yonhap reported that two intermediate Musudan missiles had been transported by train earlier in the week and loaded on vehicles equipped with launch pads.

The Musudan has never been tested, but is believed to have a range of around 3000 kilometres, which could theoretically be pushed to 4000km if they were to be given a light payload.

NORTH KOREA'S MISSILE THREAT TO AUSTRALIA `REAL'.

KIM'S CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam.

The Pentagon has said it will send missile-interceptor batteries to protect its bases on Guam, a US territory some 3380 kilometres southeast of North Korea and home to 6000 American military personnel.

GALLERY: KOREAN TENSION INTENSIFIES.

THE THREAT THAT WON'T GO AWAY.

Most experts think the North is not yet capable of mounting a nuclear device on a ballistic missile which could strike US bases or territory.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since the North test-launched a long-range rocket in December.

Forces deployed on the Korean Peninsula.

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North Korean missile launch 'suicide'

North Korea appears to have moved a medium range missile capable of hitting targets in Sth Korea and Japan.

• Communication intercepts reveal plans to launch missile
• Missile components 'being moved to North Korean coast'
• Speculation launch is 'test' to mark North Korean holiday
• View interactive North Korean timeline at end of story

A NORTH Korean attack on the United States would be "suicidal", a former United States ambassador to the United Nations has declared.

Former diplomat Bill Richardson said there had been a lot of heated talk from all sides.

"There's been a lot of rhetoric and not a lot of action ... but I think our response has been appropriate: Cool, calm and at the same time putting our military resources ready in case there's an emergency," Mr Richardson said.

"But if they try anything with the United States, it's suicidal. That's not going to happen."

Richardson sparked controversy when he joined Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt in a visit to North Korea earlier this year.

He today once again emphasised the need for careful diplomacy.

Former UN ambassador Bill Richardson smiles as he responds to the media at Beijing International airport in Beijing on January 7, 2013, before his trip to North Korea.

"Something is needed to cool things down. I think there has to be an end game to the administration's policy, and the end game in my view is diplomacy some kind of special envoy, some kind of South Korean diplomat."

The comments come as intercepted military communications indicate North Korea could be planning to launch a missile spotted being moved by train yesterday.

CNN has reported a United States official as saying the communications revealed the launch was planned for the coming days.

The US is reportedly seeking the location of a secret North Korean launch facility or hidden launch vehicles on the nation's east coast. The location is of particular concern as any launch would likely go over the coast of Japan.

The revelation comes after South Korean officials yesterday said a medium-range " had been spotted being loaded on to a train and transported towards the coast of the Sea of Japan.

A file photo, a North Korean vehicle carrying a Musudan missile passes by during a mass military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

The Yonhap news agency reported speculation that the missile may be "test fired" on April 15, the birthday of the nation's founder Kim Il-sung.

The range of the "Musudan" is unclear, but some analysts have placed it at up to 4000km - enough to reach bases in Japan and the United States controlled island of Guam.

South Korea's defense minister said that the missile was not capable of reaching the United States and that there are no signs that the North is preparing for a full-scale conflict.

North Korea has been railing against US-South Korean military exercises that began in March and are to continue until the end of this month. The allies insist the exercises in South Korea are routine, but the North calls them rehearsals for an invasion and says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself. The North has also expressed anger over tightened UN sanctions for its February nuclear test.

ANONYMOUS HACK JONG-UN PICTURE.

Analysts say the ominous warnings in recent weeks are probably efforts to provoke softer policies from South Korea, to win diplomatic talks with Washington and solidify the image of young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Many of the threats come in the middle of the night in Asia - daytime for the US audience.

The report of the movement of the missile came hours after North Korea's military warned that it had been granted approval to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons. The reference to smaller weapons could be a claim that North Korea has improved its nuclear technology, or a bluff.

The North is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to miniaturize nuclear bombs enough to mount them on long-range missiles. Nor has it demonstrated that those missiles, if it has them at all, are accurate. It also could be years before the country completes the laborious process of creating enough weaponized fuel to back up its nuclear threats.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said he did not know the reasons behind the North's missile movement, and that it "could be for testing or drills."

GILLARD DECLARES SUPPORT FOR THE SOUTH.

A North Korean soldier watches the South Korean side at the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in South Korea.

AUSTRALIAN EVACUATION PLAN FOR KOREA.

He dismissed reports in Japanese media that the missile could be a KN-08, which is believed to be a long-range missile that if operable could hit the United States.

Kim told lawmakers at a parliamentary committee meeting that the missile has "considerable range" but not enough to hit the US mainland.

The Pentagon announced that it will hasten the deployment of a missile defense system to the US Pacific territory of Guam to strengthen regional protection against a possible attack.

Experts say North Korea has not shown that it has accurate long-range missiles. Some suspect that an apparent long-range missile unveiled by the North at a parade last year was actually a mockup.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army 23rd chemical battalion wear gas masks while attending a demonstration of their equipment during a ceremony to recognize the battalion's official return to the 2nd Infantry Division based in South Korea at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.

"From what we know of its existing inventory, North Korea has short- and medium-range missiles that could complicate a situation on the Korean Peninsula (and perhaps reach Japan), but we have not seen any evidence that it has long-range missiles that could strike the continental US, Guam or Hawaii," James Hardy, Asia Pacific editor of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, wrote in a recent analysis.

KIM'S CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER.

ANALYSIS: A WAR WITHOUT END.

Kim, the South Korean defense minister, said that if North Korea were preparing for a full-scale conflict, there would be signs such as the mobilization of a number of units, including supply and rear troops, but South Korean military officials have found no such preparations.

"(North Korea's recent threats) are rhetorical threats. I believe the odds of a full-scale provocation are small," he said. But he added that North Korea might mount a small-scale provocation such as its 2010 shelling of a South Korean island, an attack that killed four people.

North Korean soldiers on the lookout at a watch tower in the North Korean town of Sinuiju. Picture: AP

At times, North Korea has gone beyond rhetoric.

On Tuesday, it announced it would restart a plutonium reactor it had shut down in 2007. A US research institute said Wednesday that satellite imagery shows that construction needed for the restart has already begun.

For a second day yesterday, North Korean border authorities denied entry to South Koreans who manage jointly run factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong. South Koreans already at the plant were being allowed to return home.

South Korea has prepared a military contingency plan should North Korea hold South Korean workers hostage in Kaesong, Defense Minister Kim said. He wouldn't elaborate.

NORTH KOREA'S MISSILE THREAT TO AUSTRALIA `REAL'.

South Korean soldiers patrol inside the barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea.

GALLERY: KOREAN TENSION INTENSIFIES.

Outraged over comments in the South about possible hostage-taking and a military response from Seoul, a North Korean government-run committee threatened to pull North Korean workers out of Kaesong as well.

In Monaco, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "very much disappointed and concerned" by the North's move to restrict access by South Korean personnel and goods into Kaesong's industrial complex and called for the measure to be lifted as soon as possible.

North Korea's military statement yesterday, from an unidentified spokesman from the General Bureau of the Korean People's Army, said its troops had been authorized to counter U.S. "aggression" with "powerful practical military counteractions," including nuclear weapons.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: NORTH KOREA'S TWEETS.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army 23rd chemical battalion, wearing anti-chemical suits check mock chemical pollutants on each other for a demonstration of their equipment during a ceremony to recognize the battalion's official return to the 2nd Infantry Division based in South Korea at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.

MOST EXCELLENT PICTURES OF KIM JONG-UN.

It said America's "hostile policy" and "nuclear threat" against North Korea "will be smashed by the strong will of all the united service personnel and people and cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means."

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington is doing all it can to defuse the situation.

"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat" to the US and its allies, Hagel said Wednesday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney has called on Russia and China, two countries he said have influence on North Korea, to use that influence to persuade the North to change course.

A US Air Force F-22 Raptor. Two of these stealth fighters have been stationed in South Korea.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has criticised a move by the North Korean parliament this week to declare the country in effect a nuclear weapons state.

"It's categorically unacceptable to see such defiant neglect by Pyongyang of UN Security Council resolutions and fundamental regulations in the area of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said its military is ready to deal with any provocation by North Korea. "I can say we have no problem in crisis management," deputy ministry spokesman Wee Yong-sub told reporters.

The 11-day US-South Korean joint military drills in March involved 10,000 South Korean and about 3000 US troops, incorporating fighter jets and nuclear-capable stealth bombers. Those coincided with two months of separate US-South Korean field exercises that began March 1.

On Sunday, Kim Jong Un led a high-level meeting of party officials who declared building the economy and "nuclear armed forces" as the nation's priorities.

North Korea is believed to be working toward building an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a long-range missile. Long-range rocket launches designed to send satellites into space in 2009 and 2012 were widely considered covert tests of missile technology, and North Korea has conducted three underground nuclear tests.

"I don't believe North Korea has the capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons mounted on missiles, and won't for many years. Its ability to target and strike South Korea is also very limited," nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said this week.

In comments posted on CISAC's website, Hecker said North Korea knows a nuclear attack would be met with "a devastating nuclear response."

Hecker has estimated that North Korea has enough plutonium to make several crude nuclear bombs. Its announcement Tuesday that it would restart a plutonium reactor indicated that it intends to produce more nuclear weapons material.

The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies has examined recent commercial satellite imagery of the Nyongbyon nuclear facility, where the reactor was shut down in 2007 under the terms of a disarmament agreement. A cooling tower for the reactor was destroyed in 2008.

The analysis published on the institute's website, 38 North, says that rebuilding the tower would take six months, but a March 27 photo shows building work may have started for an alternative cooling system that could take just weeks. Experts estimate it could take three months to a year to restart the plant.

- With AP

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Swimmer missing at beach north of Perth

A SEARCH has resumed for a man who was reported missing after going for a swim at the popular Mullaloo beach north of Perth on Tuesday.

The man, who is visiting WA from interstate, went to the beach about 1pm on Tuesday and was reported missing at 8.30pm by a family member, police say.

His belongings, including a backpack, were discovered on the beach but there was no sign of the swimmer.

An air search will resume this morning, with water police and Surf Life Saving personnel also scouring the surf.

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Korea leader vows to strike back at North

As the industrial zone jointly run by the two Koreas continues to operate, South Korean President Park Geun-hye pledges a strong and swift military response to any North Korean provocation. Sarah Toms reports.

SOUTH Korea's new president has promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced the two countries are now in a state of war.

President Park Geun-Hye's warning came as North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament formalised the country's status as a nuclear weapons state and appointed a sacked economic reformer for a fresh term as prime minister.

It also coincided with a US announcement that it had deployed stealth fighters to South Korea as part of an ongoing joint military exercise.

At a meeting with senior military officials and Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, Park said she took the nearly daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month "very seriously".

"I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if (the North) stages any provocation against our people," she said.

Her defence minister made it clear that the South would carry out pre-emptive strikes against the North's nuclear and missile facilities in the event of hostilities breaking out.

"We will ... establish a so-called 'active deterrence' aimed at neutralising the North's nuclear and missile threats quickly," Kim said.

The US military said on Monday it had deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to South Korea as part of the ongoing Foal Eagle military exercise.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has vowed to respond to any threat from the North.

"The F-22s are advanced fighter aircraft and they're an important display of our commitment to the South Korean alliance," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters in Washington.

North Korea has already threatened to strike the US mainland and US bases in the Pacific in response to the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in the exercise.

Monday's gathering of the North's Supreme People's Assembly, or parliament, was notable for the promotion of a former prime minister who was sacked in a reported backlash against his pursuit of economic reforms.

Pak Pong-Ju, 74, was unanimously returned to the post of prime minister, which he had previously held from 2003-2007, when he spearheaded modest economic reforms of state enterprises.

An apparent backlash from the party and the military saw him suspended from duty in June 2006 and sacked the following year.

South Korean marines check a weapon on their K-55 self-propelled howitzer during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea.

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Oz again tops North American box office

OZ the Great and Powerful is living up to its name at the box office.

Walt Disney's 3D blockbuster led all films for the second week in a row, taking in $US42.2 million ($A40.85 million) according to studio estimates on Sunday. Sam Raimi's prequel to the L Frank Baum classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz also took in $US46.6 million overseas, leading to a two-week worldwide total of $US281.8 million.

In a winter of underperforming releases, that makes Oz easily the biggest hit of 2013 so far.

"Boy, did we need it," said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "There have been a lot of box-office casualties this year. This is the shot in the arm that we needed, but we're still waiting for the marketplace to gain some sort of momentum."

The box office is down nearly 13 per cent from last year.

Among the weekend's debuts, the Halle Berry thriller The Call far exceeded expectations with a $US17.1 million opening for Sony and TriStar Pictures. The Steve Carell magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone fared worse, opening with a disappointing $US10.3 million for Warner Bros.

The performances of the two new releases continued a theme of 2013: Movies targeting female audiences have had more success than male-driven films. The Call, in which Berry plays a 911 operator, was deliberately marketed to women, who made up 61 per cent of its audience, Sony said. Burt Wonderstone, starring Carell and Jim Carrey as rival Las Vegas magicians, sought a young male comedy audience that didn't materialise.

Female turnout has driven most all of the box office hits of the year, including the Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief and the vampire romance Warm Bodies. Macho films like Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand and Sylvester Stallone's Bullet to the Head have fizzled.

"Studios should take note," says Dergarabedian. "There's a lot of female power going on at the box office."

Opening in just three theatres in New York and Los Angeles was another film starring James Franco, who plays the Wizard in Oz the Great and Powerful. Spring Breakers, a dreamy trip of day-glo debauchery starring Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, opened with a strong $US90,000 per-theatre average ahead of its wider release next weekend.

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