naturalfeature:korea

  • South Korea region seeks to tag Japanese firms as ’war criminals’ - Nikkei Asian Review
    https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/South-Korea-region-seeks-to-tag-Japanese-firms-as-war-criminals


    Il faut apprendre le coréen si on veut appendre des choses sur la participation des entreprises japonaises aux crimes de guerre. Le web de langue anglaise ne contient guère de documents, on a l’impression qu’un énorme balai nippon soit passé pour mettre à la poubelle chaque information nuisible à l’image de marque de son propriétaire.

    SEOUL — South Korea’s largest province is considering whether to stigmatize nearly 300 Japanese companies over their purported actions during World War II, by imposing an ordinance that requires schools to put alert labels on these firms’ products in their schools.

    Twenty-seven members of the Gyeonggi Province council submitted the bill last week in an attempt to give students the “right understanding on history.” If passed, schools will have to place on the items stickers that say: “This product is made by a Japanese war criminal company.”

    The move is likely further deepen a diplomatic spat between Seoul and Tokyo, which are at loggerheads over territorial issues and the legacy of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945).

    The list of 299 companies includes Nikon, Panasonic and Yamaha. The rule would apply to items such as projectors, camcorders, cameras and copy machines with a price tag of 200,000 won ($190) or more. Most of the companies on the list do not commonly supply products to schools — they include Tokyo Gas, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

    Both Nikon and Panasonic declined to comment for this story.
    The proposed sticker says: “This product is made by a Japanese war criminal company.” The image was captured from the Gyeonggi Provincial Council website. © Kyodo

    “Consumers have a responsibility to remember Japanese companies committed war crimes, and that they have not apologized [for their past wrongdoings],” Council member Hwang Dae-ho said in a statement. “It is a part of history education to help students remember clearly about war-crime companies who do not take social responsibility.”

    The sensitive historical issues were reopened last October when the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay reparations to Koreans who were forced to work in Japan during the period of Japanese colonial rule. This was a reversal of a long-standing diplomatic understanding that reparations issues were settled in a 1965 accord establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

    The neighbors have also clashed over Seoul’s decision to disband a fund for wartime “comfort women,” which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former South Korean President Park Geun-hye set up in 2016. The countries also dispute the sovereignty of islands in the Sea of Japan, and in December a South Korean warship locked fire-control radar onto a Japanese patrol plane.

    Earlier this month, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said tariffs were among measures Japan could take against South Korea should the dispute worsen. He also said steps such as halting remittances or stopping visa issuance could be taken.

    But the head of Gyeonggi Province’s education office said he was concerned about the negative impact the ordinance could have on relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

    “The [central] government should make a decision first because it can hugely affect diplomacy between South Korea and Japan,” Lee Jae-jung said in a news conference. “I think it is natural that students study on this by themselves rather than making it a rule.”

    Gyeonggi province is located in the northwest of the country, and surrounds the capital, Seoul. It has a population of more than 12 million. The council is dominated by President Moon Jae-in’s ruling Democratic Party, with its members accounting for 135 members of the 142 seats.

    #Japon #Corée #censure

  • China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific

    The Chinese navy, which is growing faster than any other major fleet, now controls the seas off its coast. Once dominant, the United States and its allies sail warily in these waters. A former U.S. naval officer says China’s advances have caught America napping.
    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-navy
    #chine #etatsunis

    • la version en ligne “ classique ” de ce très bel article interactif :

      Special Report: China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific - Reuters
      https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1S6139


      FILE PHOTO - Warships and fighter jets of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018.
      REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

      For now, many of China’s warships are smaller vessels, including a big fleet of fast missile-attack craft. But Chinese shipyards are launching surface warships that are closing the gap in size, quality, and capability with the best of their foreign counterparts, according to interviews with veterans of the U.S., Taiwanese and Australian navies. China’s big fleet of conventional and nuclear submarines is also improving rapidly, they say.

      By 2020, the PLA navy will boast more big surface warships and submarines than the Russian navy, the former head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, told a congressional committee last year. Some American naval experts believe China could achieve rough parity with the U.S. Navy in numbers and quality of major surface warships by 2030.

      Crucially, the Chinese navy already has an edge in hitting power, according to senior officers from the U.S. and other regional navies. The best Chinese destroyers, frigates, fast attack craft and submarines are armed with anti-ship missiles that in most cases far outrange and outperform those on U.S. warships, these officers say.

      This firepower explains why Washington keeps its carriers at a distance. The last U.S. carrier to pass through the Taiwan Strait was the now-decommissioned USS Kitty Hawk, which made a transit with its battle group in late 2007 after being denied a port visit to Hong Kong.

      The U.S. Navy and other foreign navies still sail near the Chinese mainland. But they avoid overt shows of force that would increase the risk of clashes with modern Chinese warships and submarines. Retired U.S. Navy carrier-fleet officers say that in recent years the Pentagon has also avoided sending carriers to the Yellow Sea between the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese mainland, amid repeated Chinese warnings.

      An example of China’s determination to control its near waters came this month, when a French warship passed through the Taiwan Strait. After the April 6 transit of the frigate Vendemiaire, China informed Paris that France was no longer welcome to attend celebrations last week to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese communist navy, U.S. officials told Reuters.

    • On peut mettre cet article en perspective avec celui sur les conséquences de l’austérité sur l’armée britannique (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/world/europe/austerity-britain-military.html) alors que partout les dépenses augmentent (https://www.courrierinternational.com/une/rearmement-le-boom-des-depenses-militaires-un-parfum-de-guerr) ; La Russie est en recul, dépassée notamment par la France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures)

  • How Japan is using an old German map to irk South Korea | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 27.03.2019
    https://www.dw.com/en/how-japan-is-using-an-old-german-map-to-irk-south-korea/a-48078274

    Yellowed with age, with visible creases and slightly damaged on its bottom right corner, a world map drawn up by a German cartographer in 1856 is one of the most prized possessions of the Japan Coast Guard.

    In a ceremony in Hamburg on Monday, a copy of the map was donated to Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency in a gesture that Japan’s Foreign Ministry said was a demonstration of the “good bilateral relations between Japan and Germany.”

    However, a single inscription on the map makes the gift a far more significant present, at least in the eyes of Japanese nationalist circles. In small but decipherable letters, the words “Japanisches M” (Sea of Japan) appear over the stretch of water that divides the Japanese archipelago from the Korean Peninsula.

    #carte #géographie #Japon #Corée_du_sud

  • The Aviationist » F-35 Stealth Aircraft Goes “Live” On Flight Tracking Websites As It Flies Mission Over Israel
    https://theaviationist.com/2018/07/24/f-35-stealth-aircraft-goes-live-on-flight-tracking-websites-as-it-fl

    An F-35, most probably one of the Adir jets recently delivered to the Israeli Air Force, appears on Flightradar24.com: deliberate action or just a case of bad OPSEC?
    On Jul. 23, an F-35 went fully visible on popular flight tracking website Flightradar24.com as it performed a mission out of Nevatim airbase. The aircraft could be monitored for about 1 hour as it went “feet wet” (over the sea) north of Gaza then flew northbound to operate near Haifa.
    […]
    As for the reasons why the aircraft could be tracked online, there are various theories. The first one is that it was a deliberate action: considered the F-35 went “live” few hours Israel made first operational use of David’s Sling missile defense system against two SS-21 Syrian ballistic missiles, there is someone who believes the mission was part of a PSYOPS aimed at threatening Israel’s enemies (Syria in particular). Our readers will probably remember the weird, most probably bogus claim of an IAF F-35 mission into the Iranian airspace originally reported by the Al-Jarida newspaper, a Kuwaiti outlet often used to deliver Israeli propaganda/PSYOPS messages.

    However the Israeli Air Force has already made public the fact that the F-35 has been used in air strikes in the Middle East (Syria and another unspecified “front”) lately. On May 23, the Israeli Air Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said during a IAF conference attended by 20 commander of air forces from around the world: “The Adir planes are already operational and flying in operational missions. We are the first in the world to use the F-35 in operational activity”. He also showed a photograph of an “Adir” flying at high altitude off Beirut (with radar reflectors, hence not in “stealthy mode”). In other words, there’s probably no need to remind Syria or Iran that the Israeli Air Force has the F-35 since they are already using it in combat.

    For this reason, there is also someone who believes that the first appearance of an Israeli Adir on Flightradar24 may have been a simple mistake: the Mode-S transponder was not turned off. A case of OPSEC fail in one of the most secretive air arms in the world.

    Indeed, transponders are usually turned off during real operations as well as when conducting missions that need to remain invisible (at least to public flight tracking websites and commercial off the shelf receivers). Unless the transponder is turned on for a specific purpose: to let the world know they are there. In fact, as reported several times here, it’s difficult to say whether some aircraft that can be tracked online broadcast their position for everyone to see by accident or on purpose: increasingly, RC-135s and other strategic ISR platforms, including the Global Hawks, operate over highly sensitive regions, such as Ukraine or the Korean Peninsula, with the ADS-B and Mode-S turned on, so that even commercial off the shelf receivers (or public tracking websites) can monitor them. Is it a way to show the flag? Or just a mistake?

  • Four possible outcomes in Korea – Sasha Trubetskoy

    https://sashat.me/2018/05/06/four-possible-outcomes-in-korea

    Je n’y crois pas mais je référence pour le archives.

    The Panmunjom Declaration is an exciting step towards peace on the Korean peninsula—a goal many have worked hard towards across many decades. We have forecasted four scenarios of potential developments as a result of future summits, closed-door deliberations, and agreements. A realistic view of current developments would mean that the future most likely lies somewhere between Scenarios 1 and 2.

    #corée #corée_du_nord

  • Will Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet in Ulaanbaatar? | The UB Post
    http://theubpost.mn/2018/03/12/will-donald-trump-and-kim-jong-un-meet-in-ulaanbaatar

    In the lead up to the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un set to happen sometime in May of this year, Ulaanbaatar has been vaulted into the conversation to host the much anticipated peace talks.

    The meeting will make Trump the first ever US President to meet with a North Korean leader. On Friday, former President Ts.Elbegdorj took to twitter to commemorate a “long [waited] breakthrough”. The fourth president of Mongolia also took the opportunity to make an offer to host the historic talks in Ulaanbaatar.

    Korean Peninsula: A long waited breakthrough! Here is an offer: US President Trump and NK leader Kim meet in UB. Mongolia is the most suitable, neutral territory. We facilitated important meetings, including between Japan and NK. Mongolia’s continuing legacy – UB dialogue on NEA,” Ts.Elbegdorj tweeted on Friday.

    During his presidency, Ts.Elbegdorj was at the forefront of trying to champion Mongolia and specifically Ulaanbaatar as a neutral location to hold peace talks with North Korea. In his tweet, Ts.Elbegdorj alludes to the fact that Mongolia has been a mediator between Japan and North Korea for talks regarding abducted Japanese citizens.

    • Oulan-Bator, toujours dans les lieux envisagés pour la prochaine rencontre Trump-Kim. Mais il y a encore beaucoup de monde en lice…

      Truce village or European capital ? Possible Trump-Kim summit venues | AFP.com
      https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/truce-village-or-european-capital-possible-trump-kim-summit-venues-doc-14540y2

      US President Donald Trump says that five locations are under consideration for his expected meeting with Kim Jong Un, the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea.

      But he gave no clues as to what they might be, and speculation is rife as to the possibilities — with many contenders suggested.

      Here are some of the options:
      • Panmunjom
      • Pyongyang
      • Seoul
      • Beijing
      • Ulaanbaatar
      A popular outside bet among Korea-watchers, the Mongolian capital can be reached from the North by both air and train, has ties with both Pyongyang and Washington - and has publicly offered to host the meeting.
      Ulan Bator has signed several economic pacts with Washington, and the US military co-sponsors the annual Khaan Quest multinational peacekeeping exercise in Mongolia
      The then Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj visited the North in 2013, and nearly 1,200 North Koreans worked in the landlocked country until regulations passed following UN Security Council sanctions required them to leave last year.
      Ulaanbaatar has signed several economic pacts with Washington, and the US military co-sponsors the annual Khaan Quest multinational peacekeeping exercise in Mongolia.
      • Switzerland
      • Singapore, Vietnam
      • Scandinavia

  • Vox’s US Government-Linked Experts Present Options for Korea: Sanctions or War | FAIR
    https://fair.org/home/vox-experts-north-korea-us-government

    [...] #Vox wrote: “Five experts discuss what a war on the Korean peninsula would look like, how close we are to conflict, and the terrifying consequences.”

    Who are those five experts opining on the prospects of a new war?

    Andrew C. Weber, a former US assistant secretary of defense
    Jung Pak, a former CIA analyst on North Korea
    Dave Maxwell, a retired US Army colonel
    Tammy Duckworth, a US senator representing Illinois
    Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, which is bankrolled by the US government

    That is to say, four of the five experts cited by Vox directly worked for the government. The fifth expert works at a think tank that is substantially financed by the Pentagon and does research contract work for it.

    #propagande_guerrière #etats-unis #fraude

  • U.S. Has Three Aircraft Carriers in West Pacific for First Time in a Decade - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/u-s-has-three-carriers-in-west-pacific-for-first-time-since-07

    The U.S. Navy has three aircraft carriers and their assorted missile-carrying vessels deployed to the western Pacific Ocean for the first time in a decade as tensions with North Korea remain high and President Donald Trump prepares to depart for Asia next week.

    The milestone was reached Wednesday when the USS Nimitz and its strike group entered the Western Pacific region after operating in the Middle East, according to a Navy press release. The USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, including a cruiser and three destroyers, entered the region Oct. 23, joining the USS Ronald Reagan.

    The high-profile deployments are part of a larger build-up. In addition to the aircraft carrier strike groups, capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Navy announced Oct. 13 that the USS Michigan — one the service’s four specialized submarines for carrying as many as 66 Navy SEAL commandos and 154 Tomahawks — arrived in Busan, South Korea.

  • U.S., South Korea conduct joint Navy drills to counter North Korea threat
    https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1CL04G

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84HCaM6quOA

    South Korea and the United States began week-long joint Navy drills in the waters around the Korean peninsula on Monday, amid high tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme.

    About 40 Navy ships from both countries, including the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, are taking part in the exercises on the east and west coasts of the peninsula from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, a spokesman for the South’s defence ministry said on Monday.

    North Korea has called joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea as a “rehearsal for war”.

  • Time to prepare for the worst in North Korea
    http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/09/11/time-to-prepare-for-the-worst-in-north-korea

    As predicted, the US reaction was quick and strong. President Donald Trump threatened that the United States will rain ‘fire and fury’ upon North Korea if it is to attack.

    For China, this turn of events has heightened the urgency of addressing the North Korea nuclear issue. Among other things, it has increased the likelihood of a US pre-emptive strike against North Korea. And, even if the United States refrains from doing so, harsher sanctions as well as more frequent and larger military exercises are on the cards. In turn, this would sharply increase the chances of a military conflict and of a crisis erupting in North Korea.

    China has already stepped up its efforts to implement UN sanctions against North Korea. Importantly, Beijing has suspended coal imports from North Korea, which is generally believed to be a key source of Pyongyang’s income. China hopes that North Korea will see the light and accept China’s ‘two suspensions’ proposal, meaning that North Korea would suspend nuclear and missile tests in exchange for suspension of joint US–South Korea military exercises. Beijing believes this is the only way to cool down the situation and pave the way for resuming dialogue and negotiation between the two sides.

    But North Korea has largely ignored China’s efforts. Pyongyang has not only continued with missile tests, but also publicly vowed to destroy Guam with nuclear weapons if the United States uses force against it. The omens of war on the Korean peninsula loom larger by the day.

    When war becomes a real possibility, China must be prepared. And, with this in mind, China must be more willing to consider talks with concerned countries on contingency plans.

  • Tillerson is working with China and Russia — very, very quietly - The Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tillerson-is-working-with-china-and-russia--very-very-quietly/2017/09/07/1aed4970-9416-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has often been the silent man in the Trump foreign policy team. But out of the spotlight, he appears to be crafting a broad strategy aimed at working with China to resolve the North Korea crisis and with Russia to stabilize Syria and Ukraine.

    The Tillerson approach focuses on personal diplomacy, in direct contacts with Chinese and Russian leaders, and through private channels to North Korea. His core strategic assumption is that if the United States can subtly manage its relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin — and allow those leaders to take credit for successes — complex regional problems can be solved effectively.

    Tillerson appears unfazed by criticism that he has been a poor communicator and by recent talk of discord with President Trump. His attitude isn’t exactly “take this job and shove it,” but as a former ExxonMobil chief executive, he doesn’t need to make money or Washington friends — and he clearly thinks he has more urgent obligations than dealing with the press.

    Tillerson appears to have preserved a working relationship with Trump despite pointedly separating himself from the president’s controversial comments after the Charlottesville unrest. Although Trump didn’t initially like Tillerson’s statement, it’s said he was ultimately comfortable with it.

    The North Korea crisis is the best example of Tillerson’s diplomacy. For all the bombast of Trump’s tweets, the core of U.S. policy has been an effort to work jointly with China to reverse the North Korean nuclear buildup through negotiations. Tillerson has signaled that the United States is ready for direct talks with Kim Jong Un’s regime — perhaps soon, if Kim shows restraint. Tillerson wants China standing behind Kim at the negotiating table, with its hands figuratively at Kim’s throat.

    Despite Pyongyang’s hyper-belligerent rhetoric, its representatives have conveyed interest in negotiations, querying details of U.S. positions. But Kim’s actions have been erratic and confusing: When it appeared that the North Koreans wanted credit for not launching missiles toward Guam, Tillerson offered such a public statement. Bizarrely, North Korea followed with three more weapons tests, in a reckless rebuff.

    Some analysts see North Korea’s race to test missiles and bombs as an effort to prepare the strongest possible bargaining position before negotiations. Tillerson seems to be betting that China can force such talks by imposing an oil embargo against Pyongyang. U.S. officials hope Xi will make this move unilaterally, demonstrating strong leadership publicly, rather than waiting for the United States to insert the embargo proposal in a new U.N. Security Council resolution.

    Tillerson signaled his seriousness about Korea talks during a March visit to the Demilitarized Zone. He pointed to a table at a U.N. office there and remarked, “Maybe we’ll use this again,” if negotiations begin.

    The Sino-American strategic dialogue about North Korea has been far more extensive than either country acknowledges. They’ve discussed joint efforts to stabilize the Korean Peninsula, including Chinese actions to secure nuclear weapons if the regime collapses.

    The big idea driving Tillerson’s China policy is that the fundamentals of the relationship have changed as China has grown more powerful and assertive. The message to Beijing is that Xi’s actions in defusing the North Korea crisis will shape U.S.-China relations for the next half-century.

    Tillerson continues to work the Russia file, even amid new Russia sanctions. He has known Putin since 1999 and views him as a predictable, if sometimes bullying, leader. Even with the relationship in the dumps, Tillerson believes he’s making some quiet progress on Ukraine and Syria.

    On Ukraine, Tillerson supports Russia’s proposal to send U.N. peacekeepers to police what Putin claims are Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s assaults on Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. The addition of U.N. monitors would help implement the Minsk agreement, even if Putin gets the credit and Poroshenko the blame.

    On Syria, Tillerson has warned Putin that the real danger to Russian interests is increasing Iranian power there, especially as Bashar al-Assad’s regime regains control of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria. To counter the Iranians, Tillerson supports a quick move by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to capture the lower Euphrates Valley.

    Trump’s boisterous, sometimes belligerent manner and Tillerson’s reticence are an unlikely combination, and many observers have doubted the relationship can last. But Tillerson seems to roll with the punches — and tweets. When Trump makes a disruptive comment, Tillerson seems to treat it as part of the policy landscape — and ponder how to use it to advantage.

    Tillerson may be the least public chief diplomat in modern U.S. history, but that’s apparently by choice. By Washington standards, he’s strangely uninterested in taking the credit.

  • China’s military practices for ’surprise attack’ over sea near Korea
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-military-northkorea/chinas-military-practices-for-surprise-attack-over-sea-near-korea-idUSKCN1B

    China’s air force has carried out exercises near the Korean peninsula, practicing to defend against a “surprise attack” coming over the sea, Chinese state media said.
    […]
    An anti-aircraft defense battalion held the exercises early on Tuesday, near the #Bohai_Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea that separates China from the Korean peninsula, an official military website said.

    Troops traveled to the site from central China before immediately beginning drills to fend off the “surprise attack” simulating real battle, it said.

    “The troops’ rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested.”It was the first time certain weapons, which the website did not identify, had been used to shoot down low-altitude targets coming over the sea, www.81.cn said, without elaborating.

    The drills “do not target any particular goal or country”, and were part of an annual plan intended to boost the troops’ capability, China’s Defence Ministry said on its website late on Wednesday, in a response to media.

  • Corée : ça y est, ils sont bien arrivés…

    U.S. Navy Cruiser Involved in Collision with South Korean Fishing Vessel – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/us-navy-lake-champlain-collision-south-korean-fishing-vessel


    The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser _USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) pictured in this April 30, 2017
    U.S. Navy Photo_

    A South Korean fishing vessel collided with the USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) while the guided-missile cruiser was conducting routine operations in international waters, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

    In a statement, the Navy said the 60 to 70-foot-long fishing vessel collided with Lake Champlain’s port side amidship at approximately 11:50 a.m. local time on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. The statement said the incident occurred in waters east of the Korean Peninsula. 

    No injuries were reported in the collision and both ships were able to navigate under their own power.

    Damage assessments of both the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and the fishing vessel are underway.

    USNI News, citing a defense official, reported that the fishing vessel lacked functioning radio or GPS and did not heed audio warnings in the lead-up to the collision. The report added that the collision occurred in limited visibility. 

    Lake Champlain is part of the Carl Vinson Strike Group, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the guided missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy, and guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, which is currently on a Western-Pacific Deployment.

  • French warship joins US-UK-Japanese fleet threatening North Korea - World Socialist Web Site

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/05/04/frko-m04.html

    Vous étiez au courant ?

    Amid the US military escalation and growing nuclear war tensions in the Korean peninsula, the French Socialist Party (PS) government has sent a Mistral-class warship to join exercises led by the US military alongside the Japanese Navy. The Mistrals are amphibious assault helicopter carriers that participated in the Libyan War in 2011.

    On Saturday, the ship reached the Sasebo naval base in Japan’s western island of Kyushu to join with US armada threatening North Korea and China. It will participate in joint military exercise from the second to the third week of this month, alongside the US, Japanese and British navies near islands including Guam and Tinian in the western Pacific, around 2.400 km from Japan.

  • Pence’s visit to Indonesia another strike in internal White House battle over Islam

    Pence praised Indonesia’s ’moderate Islam’ as ’an inspiration to the world,’ but others in Trump’s administration still see all Muslims as a threat

    Amir Tibon Apr 22, 2017
    read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.784940

    Vice President Mike Pence became this week the first senior figure from the Trump White House to visit a Muslim country. As part of his tour in Southeast Asia, that was focused mostly on the crisis in the Korean peninsula, Pence stopped in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, which is home to approximately 250 million people. 
    During his visit to Jakarta, the country’s capital, Pence made a statement that under previous U.S. administrations probably wouldn’t have been filed as more than a footnote, but in the Trump era, immediately made headlines and raised some eyebrows. “As the largest majority Muslim country, Indonesia’s tradition of moderate Islam, frankly, is an inspiration to the world,” Pence declared. He added that the United States commends Indonesia and its people “for the great inspiration that Indonesia provides to the world.”
    Indonesia is indeed a Muslim country led by moderate and democratically elected leadership. Its president, Joko Widodo, was elected in 2014, and was presented in news reports at the time as an “Indonesian version” of Barack Obama. Indonesia is also an important trade partner for the United States and has the largest navy in Southeast Asia. All of these factors can explain why Pence found it important to flatter his hosts in Jakarta this week. But the fact that he chose to specifically speak about the importance of moderate Islam was what made it into the news reports. 
    The reason is obvious: during his election campaign last year, Pence’s boss, Donald Trump, made statements and promises that ignored any kind of differentiation between various movements and groups in the Muslim world. Trump talked about banning all Muslims from entering the United States, without exception, and in March 2016 he said in an interview to CNN that “Islam hates us. There is tremendous hate there.” 
    Trump also assembled around him a number of key advisers with strong anti-Muslim opinions. Michael Flynn, his first choice for the position of National Security Adviser, claimed that Islam wasn’t truly a religion, but rather a political ideology that must be defeated. He also said radical Islamism was like cancer “inside the body of 1.7 billion people” - suggesting that every Muslim person in the world was “infected” by it.

    #Islam #Etats-Unis

  • Je me suis demandé si c’était une parodie : le New York Times a interrogé une foule de spécialistes parce que des Nord-Coréens ont joué au volleyball. Activity Spotted at North Korea Nuclear Test Site : Volleyball
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test-volleyball.html

    Analysts who examine satellite images of North Korea reported on Wednesday that they had spotted some unexpected activity at the country’s nuclear test site: active volleyball games in three separate areas.

    The surprising images were taken on Sunday as tensions between the United States and North Korea seemed to spike. The Korean Peninsula pulsed with news that the North was preparing for its sixth atomic detonation and that American warships had been ordered into the Sea of Japan as a deterrent, even though the ships turned out to have sailed in the opposite direction.

    The volleyball games, played in the middle of that international crisis, were probably intended to send a message, analysts said, as the North Koreans are aware that the nuclear test site is under intense scrutiny. But what meaning the North wanted the games to convey is unclear.

    “It suggests that the facility might be going into a standby mode,” Joseph Bermudez told reporters on a conference call organized by 38 North, a research institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. “It also suggests that these volleyball games are being conducted with the North Koreans knowing that we’ll be looking and reporting on it.

    Mr. Bermudez, a veteran North Korean analyst, emphasized the ambiguity of North Korean intentions. “They’re either sending us a message that they’ve put the facility on standby, or they’re trying to deceive us,” he said. “We really don’t know.”

    La (trop) classique expression « Untel défie l’Occident » prend une nouvelle dimension…

  • U.S. defense officials may have spoken too soon, but Trump’s missing ‘armada’ finally heading to Korea - The Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/trumps-missing-armada-finally-heading-to-korea--and-may-stay-a-while/2017/04/19/734ac5e7-ad0c-4395-9cfe-43a9596dca7b_story.html

    It was supposed to be steaming toward North Korea more than a week ago, an “armada” signaling American resolve. Then it wasn’t.

    Now, it seems the USS Carl Vinson may finally be heading north.

    Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula,” Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, commander of Carrier Strike Group One, said in a message posted on the Carl Vinson’s Facebook page and addressed to “families and loved ones” of the personnel on board.
    […]
    It appears the confusion over its whereabouts stemmed from a U.S. Pacific Command announcement that “could have been worded a little more clearly,” in the words of a defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

  • As Trump warned North Korea, his ’armada’ was headed toward Australia | Reuters
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-carrier-idUSKBN17L03J

    When U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an “armada” as a warning to North Korea, the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction.

    It was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed what appeared to be new missiles at a parade and staged a failed missile test.

    The U.S. military’s Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now “proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered,” it said.

    The perceived communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts, who wonder whether it erodes the Trump administration’s credibility at a time when U.S. rhetoric about the North’s advancing nuclear and missile capabilities are raising concerns about a potential conflict.

    If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it’s only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from what’s just happened,” said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

  • Washington pushes world to brink of nuclear war - World Socialist Web Site

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/04/18/pers-a18.html

    Washington pushes world to brink of nuclear war
    18 April 2017

    The repeated statements by US Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump administration officials Monday that the “era of strategic patience” with North Korea is over and “all options are on the table” have laid bare the mounting threat that Washington will provoke a war on the Korean peninsula involving the use of nuclear weapons and the deaths of millions.

    “Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” Pence declared during a provocative visit to South Korea that brought him to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the North Korean border. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region,” Pence said.

    #trump #it_has_begun #guerre_thermo_nucléaire (new tag...)

  • Japanese imperialism rearms - World Socialist Web Site

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/24/japa-m24.html

    Japanese imperialism rearms
    24 March 2017

    Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is exploiting the extremely tense situation on the Korean Peninsula to push for its military to be able to carry out “pre-emptive” strikes on an enemy such as North Korea. The acquisition of offensive weapons, such as cruise missiles, for the first time since the end of World War II would be another major step by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to rearm Japan, heightening the danger of war.

    Commenting on North Korean missile tests, Defence Minister Tomomi Inada suggested on March 9 that Japan could acquire the capacity for “pre-emptive” attacks. “I do not rule out any method and we consider various options, consistent of course with international law and the constitution of our country,” she said.

    #japon #armement #impérialisme

  • Women Walk for Peace in the Korean Peninsula | Inter Press Service
    http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/03/women-walk-for-peace-in-the-korean-peninsula

    A group of international women peacemakers announced on Wednesday at the United Nations their intention to walk across the two mile De-Militarized Zone (DMZ), in a call for peace and reunification of Korea.

    The walk is planned for May 24th, the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, depending on the approval of the Korean authorities. Leading organiser Christine Ahn said at the U.N. that women will walk “to imagine a new chapter in Korean history marked by dialogue, understanding and ultimately forgiveness. We are walking to help unite Korean families tragically separated by an artificial man-made division.”

    The announcement was made in light of the 59th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women.

    Amongst the 30 walkers, there are two Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee, various authors, academics, humanitarian aid workers and faith leaders.

    The Korean people are still waiting for an official peace treaty to reunify the country. However, a cease-fire has been in place since the 1953 signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement which established a de facto border between the two countries.

    The group is planning to meet in Pyongyang and walk south, across the DMZ, meeting with southern Korean women in Seoul, where they will hold an international peace symposium.

    Ahn said, “We realise that crossing the most militarized border in the world is no simple task. We are seeking approval from both Korean governments and the U.N. We received a letter of intent last year from Pyongyang supporting our event, with a very stern caveat ‘if the conditions are right’. However, given the tense moment right now they may not be.”

    American author and Honorary Co-Chair of the international delegation, Gloria Steinem, remarked, “If this division can be healed even briefly by women, it will be inspiring in the way that women brought peace out of war in Northern Ireland or in Liberia.”

    Even without an official approval, the group is urging leaders to reduce military expenditure and redirect public money towards social welfare and environmental protection.

    #Corée #femmes #marche_pour_la_paix

  • North Korea says US B-52 sortie was ’rehearsal for nuclear strike’

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/06/north-korea-asia-pacific

    A US B-52 bomber sortie over South Korea has endangered plans for reunions between families from the North and South of the country and risks triggering a further escalation of military tensions, North Korea said on Thursday.

    North Korea said a flight by the nuclear-capable B-52 took place off the west coast of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, although the US military was not immediately available for comment.

    A South Korean military source told the Yonhap news agency that the flight was a training sortie involving a single aircraft. The North’s National Defence Commission, the country’s top military body, said in a statement read on state television, that it was a rehearsal for a nuclear attack.

    #corée_du_nord

  • Reporter : North Korean collapse not imminent | NK News – North Korea News

    http://www.nknews.org/2014/01/reporter-north-korean-collapse-not-imminent

    La réunification, c’est pas pour demain.

    North Korea will not collapse until the Korean Peninsula is reunified, a journalist and long-time observer of the peninsula said Tuesday.

    Furthermore, reunification is not imminent due to the geopolitical concerns of other nations with a stake in the Korean Peninsula’s future.

    Ivan Zakharchenko has spent years covering both North and South Korea, starting with time spent as a correspondent with Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency in the 1980s. He reported from Seoul in the mid-1990s following the collapse of the USSR, spent another one-year stint in Pyongyang after that, and today is based in New York covering the United Nations for the RIA Novosti news agency.

    #corée_du_nord

  • US-South Korean war games threaten to inflame Korean Peninsula - World Socialist Web Site

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/01/18/kore-j18.html

    Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are again set to escalate as the US and South Korean militaries prepare to hold their annual joint war games—Key Resolve and Foal Eagle. The former is a computer-based simulation running for two weeks from late February, focussed on “crisis management” and aimed against North Korea. The latter is a massive mobilisation, which last year involved 10,000 US military personnel and up to 200,000 South Korean troops in a range of drills extending over two months.

    As in previous years, the North Korean regime demanded the exercises be called off. A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea on Wednesday declared that “powder-reeking war exercises are being waged, vitiating the hope-filled atmosphere at the beginning of the new year.” He called on the US and South Korea to stop the drills, warning that they might “push the situation on the peninsula and the north-south ties to a catastrophe.”

    #corée_du_nord

  • Worse cyclones will hit East Asia | Climate News Network

    http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/01/worse-cyclones-will-hit-east-asia

    Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines are trying to piece together their lives after the devastation caused late last year by tropical cyclone Haiyan. New research shows that while such cyclones are growing in strength they are increasingly tracking northwards to hit the coasts of China, Korea and Japan.

    LONDON, 16 January – It will be of little comfort to people in the southern and central Philippines repeatedly hit by tropical cyclones over the years, but a new study indicates that storm patterns might be shifting northwards.

    The study, by a team of scientists at Seoul National University and other South Korean scientific institutions, looks at tropical cyclone activity across the north-west Pacific between 1977 and 2010.

    #climat #cyclone #asie #désastre