ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

As the United States faces yet another crisis on the Korean Peninsula engineered by the vexingly erratic and disruptive North Korean regime, one key issue is how China might convince Pyongyang to dial back its provocations lest they escalate into military conflict. Although current consultations between Washington and Beijing are taking place behind closed doors, we do have a window into how the United States assessed China's options during a similar crisis nearly two decades ago -- options that included Chinese troops crossing the Yalu to secure its borders. COMMENTS (8) SHARE: Share on twitterTwitter Share on redditReddit More... In 1994, the United States received new intelligence that North Korea, despite its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency under the Nonproliferation Treaty, was moving to produce nuclear weapons. How to halt this program and secure IAEA inspection of North Korea's nuclear facilities was the focus of intense but unfruitful negotiations

By Scott McConnell April 11, 2013  -" American Conservative " - The so called P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran are apparently going nowhere. One can find small signs of optimism: there was, for instance, some serious give and take at the last session between negotiators. But right now what the West is offering—limited sanctions relief in return for Iran dismantling its major hard-to-destroy reactor—hasn’t impressed the current batch of Iranian negotiators. As I read the accounts —which are highly technical for non-experts— it appears that the Iranians believe that if they’re going to accept limits and more intrusive inspections on their program, they want full sanctions relief, an end to all “regime change” talk and actions, and formal recognition of their right to enrich uranium. Right now the U.S. is offering limited sanctions relief and little else. The sides are far apart. What seems obvious is why Iran would feel it would want a nuclear deterrent. It is surrounded by

By William Boardman April 11, 2013 - National Paranoia is the Irrational Fear that You’re Being Threatened Which is the more paranoid statement? 1. AMERICAN MEDIA: "North Korea is threatening to attack us with nuclear weapons," or: 2. NORTH KOREAN MEDIA: "The United States is threatening to attack us with nuclear weapons." Taking recent events in the U.S. and the Korean peninsula as evidence, while mostly ignoring historical context, the drift toward another American war in Asia can be seen as clearly as the ambiguous moves and countermoves of countries with no obvious motive for war might allow, producing headlines like this [1] in the New York Times of April 4: “North Korea Moves Missile to Coast, but Little Threat is Seen” According to the Times, “North Korea has been issuing a blistering series of similar threats in recent weeks, citing as targets the American military installations in the Pacific islands of Hawaii and Guam, as well as the United States mainlan

A former North Korean spy has recalled her role in blowing up a civilian South Korean jet in 1987 – killing all 115 passengers – after being “plucked” from her schoolyard to work for the regime. Kim Hyun-hee, who was later captured and tried to kill herself by swallowing cyanide, has come out of hiding to shed light on the regime’s warmongering and the desperate attempts by its “inexperienced” leader, Kim Jong-un, to shore up control over the military. The 51-year-old was given a death sentence after the 1987 attack, in which she and an accomplice managed to plant a bomb on a plane travelling from Baghdad to Seoul via Abu Dhabi. Despite the death of all 115 passengers on board, she was later pardoned after the South Korean government decided that she had been brainwashed. In an interview from an undisclosed location in South Korea where she lives in fear for her life with her husband and two children, she provided a rare insight into the inner workings of the secretive state and its yo

Reports that North Korean missiles have been put upright on their launchers come as G8 foreign ministers discuss the crisis. A North Korean missile launcher has moved into the firing position with rockets facing skyward, Japanese media have said. The reports in the Kyodo news agency come as North Koreans celebrate the appointment of their leader Kim Jong-Un a year ago, and G8 foreign ministers discuss the crisis during a meeting in London. The Japanese government has been on high alert ahead of the expected test-firing of a medium-range missile by Pyongyang, deploying Patriot missile batteries in Tokyo as a defence measure. South Korean and US forces in the territory of Guam have announced an upgrade of their surveillance alert status. Tokyo is "gathering a variety of information ... with a sense of tension", Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera was quoted as saying by Kyodo. North Korea celebrates the appointment of Kim Jong-Un Meawnhile, Sky sources say the UK ambassador in

(CNN) -- North Korea is "skating very close to a dangerous line" after weeks of saber-rattling, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday as northeast Asia watched for an expected missile test. "Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon. He said the United States and its allies want to see North Korean rhetoric "ratcheted down," but if that doesn't happen, "our country is fully prepared to deal with any contingency." "We have every capacity to deal with any action North Korea will take to protect this country and the interests of this country and our allies," Hagel said. American radar and satellites are trained on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, where the communist government of Kim Jong Un is believed to have prepared mobile ballistic missiles for launch at any time, U.S. and South Korean officials warned. Hagel: N. Korea close to dangerous

The use of threats and isolation against Iran and North Korea is a bizarre, perilous way to conduct foreign relations By Jonathan Steele April 10, 2013  -" The Guardian " - By coincidence two clashes over nuclear issues are hitting the headlines together. North Korea and Iran have both had sanctions imposed by foreign governments, and when they refuse to "behave properly" they are submitted to "isolation" and put in the corner until they are ready to say sorry and change their conduct. If not, corporal punishment will be administered, since they have been given fair warning by the enforcers that "all options are on the table". It's a bizarre way to run international relations, one we continue to follow at our peril. For one thing, it is riddled with hypocrisy, and not just because states that have hundreds of nuclear weapons are bullying states that have few or none. The hypocrisy is worse than that. If it is offensive for North Kore

Tehran, Iran - A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed 32 and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said. Authorities said it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region. The report said the earthquake struck the town of Kaki some 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, a town on the Persian Gulf that is home of Iran's first nuclear power plant, built with Russian help. “No damage was done to Bushehr power plant,” Bushehr provincial governor Fereidoun Hasanvand told state TV. He said 32 people died and 850 were injured, including 100 who were hospitalized. Water and electricity were cut to many residents, said Ebrahim Darvishi, governor of the worst-hit district Shonbeh. Shahpour Rostami, the deputy governor of Bushehr province, told state TV that rescue teams have been deployed to Shonbeh. Three helicopters were sent to survey the damaged area before sunset, said Mohammad Mozaffar, the head of Iran's Red Crescent re