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Version 14 Version 15
U.S. to Add Pacific Defense as North Korea Bars Workers U.S. to Add Pacific Defense as North Korea Bars Workers
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — The United States announced Wednesday that it was deploying an advanced missile defense system to Guam, to protect one of the main American naval and air bases in the Pacific against North Korean attack. Only hours before, North Korea blocked South Koreans from crossing the border to enter a jointly operated industrial park that employs more than 50,000 North Koreans, raising doubts about the future of the last remaining major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. SEOUL, South Korea — The United States announced Wednesday that it was speeding the deployment of an advanced missile defense system to Guam in the next few weeks, two years ahead of schedule in what the Pentagon said was “a precautionary move” to protect American naval and air forces from the threat of a North Korean missile attack.
 Pentagon officials say that the decision to rush a system called THAAD — for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — to Guam in coming weeks was “a precautionary move to strengthen our regional defense posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat." But its primary importance is that, once installed, the land-based system will free up two Aegis-class missile-defense warships to be repositioned far closer to the North Korean coast, to give President Obama more options to decide whether to attempt to shoot down the North’s increasingly-sophisticated arsenal of missiles, perhaps during a North Korean missile test. The system — called Thaad, for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — was scheduled for deployment around 2015.
The decision to deploy it now was the latest in a series of steps intended to deter the North from either military action or new missile tests and came only hours after North Korean officials blocked South Koreans from crossing the border to enter a jointly operated industrial park that employs roughly 53,000 North Koreans.
The North had threatened the move in reaction to taunts from the South Korean news media that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had cut hot lines and other communications across the border, but did not want to risk one of his most precious sources of hard currency. The border has been sealed before, but the move raised doubt about the future of the last remaining major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
Earlier this week, the Defense Department announced that two of the Navy’s Aegis-class missile defense warships were positioned in the Pacific to watch North Korea. Installing the land-based missile system in Guam will free up the ships, which have radar and interceptor missiles, to be repositioned closer to the North Korean coast.
That would give President Obama a wider range of options if the North Koreans fire their missiles in a test or at a target.
“We haven’t made any decisions,” a senior administration official said. “But we want as many options as possible.”“We haven’t made any decisions,” a senior administration official said. “But we want as many options as possible.”
The North, angry over joint American-South Korean military drills and a recent round of United Nations sanctions, has in recent weeks threatened to strike at the United States, the South’s ally, in Guam, Hawaii and the mainland United States. While analysts doubt the potency of the North’s arsenal, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel responded Wednesday that the North’s recent inflammatory language and actions presented “a real and clear danger” to the interests of South Korea, Japan and the United States. The last time the United States seriously prepared to shoot down North Korean missiles was the summer of 2006, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered the Army to prepare to intercept a long-range Taepodong missile from its antiballistic missile base in Alaska during a North Korean test. But the North Korean missile broke up in flight.
Last month, Mr. Hagel announced that the United States would bolster its missile defenses in Alaska and California. But that process will take several years; the THAAD is intended to deter a more current threat to Guam, which is within the North’s missile range. Last month, as the North escalated its threats, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that the United States would bolster long-range ballistic missile defenses in Alaska and California. But that process will take several years; the Thaad is intended to deter a threat to Guam, which is on the outer edge of the North’s missile range. The system includes a truck-mounted launcher, interceptor missiles, an integrated fire control system and advanced tracking radar.
The jointly operated industrial complex, in the North Korean town of Kaesong, had continued to operate for days since the North threatened to shut it down. But on Wednesday, more than 480 South Koreans who showed up at a border crossing were denied permission to cross, said the Unification Ministry of South Korea, which is in charge of relations with the North. North Korea promised to allow 861 South Koreans currently staying in Kaesong to return home if they wished, the ministry said. But with no replacements arriving, only 33 immediately decided to return home. Mr. Hagel, speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, alluded to North Korea’s increased capability in response to a question from the audience.
The eight-year-old industrial park, on the western edge of the border of the two Koreas, produced $470 million worth of goods last year, helping provide a badly needed source of hard currency for the cash-strapped North. It generates more than $92 million a year in wages for 53,400 North Koreans employed by 123 textile and other labor-intensive South Korean factories there. “They have a nuclear capacity now,” he said. “They have a missile delivery capacity now. And so, as they have ratcheted up their bellicose, dangerous rhetoric, and some of the actions they have taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger.”
Mr. Hagel’s carefully worded comment about the North’s “nuclear capacity” was significant; on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that the United States would never recognize the North “as a nuclear state.” The difference pointed to the administration’s dilemma: after three nuclear tests, there is no doubt the country can trigger a nuclear explosion, but the United States is adamant that it will not reward the North by accepting its arsenal as a permanent reality.
In recent days the North has said it would never negotiate away its nuclear weapons arsenal, and it has taken steps toward expanding it. It declared it will restart a nuclear reactor that gave it a small stockpile of plutonium. Photographs published Wednesday on the Web site 38 North, which follows North Korean developments, show new construction at the aging reactor, dating back several weeks.
The jointly run industrial complex, in the North Korean town of Kaesong, had continued to operate for days since the North threatened to shut it down. But on Wednesday, more than 480 South Koreans who showed up at a border crossing were denied permission to cross, said the Unification Ministry of South Korea, which is in charge of relations with the North. North Korea promised to allow 861 South Koreans currently staying in Kaesong to return home if they wished, the ministry said. But with no replacements arriving, only 33 immediately decided to return home.
It was not the first time that North Korea had disrupted the park’s operation. It blocked cross-border traffic three times in 2009, once for three days, out of anger over joint military drills by South Korean and American troops. That blockade was lifted when the military exercises ended. The current American-South Korean military drills are to continue until the end of April.It was not the first time that North Korea had disrupted the park’s operation. It blocked cross-border traffic three times in 2009, once for three days, out of anger over joint military drills by South Korean and American troops. That blockade was lifted when the military exercises ended. The current American-South Korean military drills are to continue until the end of April.
China’s deputy foreign minister, Zhang Yesui, met with the ambassadors of the two Koreas and the United States on Tuesday to express serious concern over the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Hong Lei, a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the United States and South Korea are entering the final stretch of long-stalled negotiations over another highly delicate nuclear issue: South Korea’s own request for American permission to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
“The improvement of relationships between the two Koreas, as well as their reconciliation and cooperation, are conducive to the peace and stability on the peninsula,” he said. “We hope the two Koreas can resolve the relevant issues through dialogue and consultation.” For Washington and Congress, allowing South Korea to develop either the enrichment or reprocessing technologies would be a rare exception, one that nonproliferation advocates said would set a bad precedent, undermine Washington’s global efforts to curb the spread of such activities and further American efforts to persuade North Korea and Iran to give up its nuclear programs.
Meanwhile, the United States and South Korea are entering the final stretch of long negotiations over another highly sensitive nuclear issue: South Korea’s own request for American permission to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Mr. Kerry and his South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, discussed the long-running South Korean desire in Washington on Tuesday and said they would take it up again when Mr. Kerry visits Seoul next week. Both sides hope for a compromise before the meeting between Mr. Obama and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea that is scheduled for next month in Washington. Ms. Park, who was elected in December, made winning Americans concessions on the issue a top campaign pledge.
The request comes at a delicate time. South Korea insists that it needs to produce fuel for its fast-expanding nuclear energy industry and reduce its almost-full nuclear waste storage. But the same technologies can also used to make material for nuclear weapons. In South Korea, where people remember their recent history of war and foreign occupation and feel squeezed by bigger countries they consider bullies, popular support has often surged for arming the country with nuclear weapons — especially when people doubt the American commitment to defend their country or when the North’s threats intensify, as they have in recent weeks.
In 1972, when Washington transferred nuclear material, equipment and technical expertise to help build South Korea’s nuclear energy industry, it had Seoul commit itself not to enrich or reprocess. That deal expires in March 2014, and both sides are racing to work out a revised and updated version; it has to be submitted to Congress before the summer for approval. “When the thug in the neighborhood has gotten himself a brand new machine gun, we can’t defend our home with a stone,” Chung Mong-joon, a ruling party leader and vocal champion for “nuclear sovereignty” for South Korea, recently said, referring to the North Korean nuclear threat. “At a time of crisis, we are not 100 percent sure whether the Americans will cover us with its nuclear umbrella.”
South Korea has lingering American misgivings to dispel. The current president’s father, the late military strongman Park Chung-hee, feared being abandoned by the United States when then-President Jimmy Carter talked about withdrawing American troops from South Korea in the 1970s, and tried to build nuclear weapons. Washington got wind of the effort and blocked it. The South’s scientists dabbled in reprocessing in 1982 and enrichment in 2000 and failed to declare their activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency. But such a call, even if reflective of popular sentiments, has always been tamped down by unequivocal rebuttals from government policy makers.
For Washington and Congress, allowing South Korea to develop either the enrichment or reprocessing technologies would mark a rare exception, one that nonproliferation advocates said would set a bad precedent, undermine Washington’s global efforts to curb the spread of such activities and further undermine American efforts to persuade North Korea and Iran to give up its nuclear programs. The United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers in recent training sorties over the Korean Peninsula, demonstrating its commitment to a nuclear umbrella for the South Korean ally.
Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, discussed the long-running South Korean desire in Washington on Tuesday and said they will take it up again when Mr. Kerry visits Seoul next week. Both sides hope for a compromise before President Obama and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea are scheduled to meet in Washington in May. Ms. Park made winning Americans concessions on the issue one of her top campaign pledges for her December election.

Choe Sang-hun reported from Seoul, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Mark Landler and Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick Zuo from Beijing.

“I am very hopeful, and I think the foreign minister shares this hope, that this can be resolved before the visit of President Park,” Mr. Kerry said in a joint news conference with Mr. Yun on Tuesday. The South Korean minister called for a “mutually beneficial, timely, and forward-looking” solution.
In South Korea, where people remember their recent history of war and foreign occupation and feel squeezed by bigger countries they consider bullies, popular support has often surged for arming the country with nuclear weapons — especially when people became doubtful of the American commitment to defend their country or when the North’s threats intensify, as they have in recent weeks.
“When the thug in the neighborhood has gotten himself a brand-new machine-gun, we can’t defend our home with a stone,” Chung Mon-joon, a ruling party leader and vocal champion for “a nuclear sovereignty” for South Korea, recently said, referring to the North Korean nuclear threat. “At a time of crisis, we are not 100 percent sure whether the Americans will cover us with its nuclear umbrella.”
But such a call, even if it reflected popular sentiments, has never become a national debate, tamped down by unequivocal rebuttals from government policy-makers. And the United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers in recent training sorties over the Korean Peninsula, demonstrating its commitment to a nuclear umbrella for the South Korean ally.

David E. Sanger reported from Washington and Choe Sang-hun from Seoul. Mark Landler and Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick Zuo from Beijing.