South Korea says North preparing for nuclear test

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials.


The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report by intelligence officials that was shared Monday with The Associated Press.

Its release comes as North Korea prepares to launch a long-range rocket that Washington and others say is a cover for testing missile technology that could be used to fire on the United States.

The Obama administration said Monday it would consider both a rocket launch and an underground nuclear test as highly provocative and leave Pyongyang more isolated.

"In each case this would be an indication of North Korea's decision at the leadership level not to take the steps that are necessary to allow North Korea to end its isolation, to rejoin the community of nations and to do something about the extreme poverty and depravation that its people suffer," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing in Washington.


Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current Security Council president, told CNN on Monday that "either or both developments would be a blatant violation of North Korea's international obligations under Security Council resolutions."

"In the Security Council in New York, I anticipate that the council would convene to discuss this and to respond in a credible fashion, both to the missile launch and to any potential additional subsequent actions," she said.

Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when international criticism of the North's last long-range rocket launch prompted Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and, weeks later, conduct its second nuclear test. A year later, 50 South Korean were killed in attacks blamed on the North.

"North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," said the intelligence report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. "North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages."

Dirt believed to have been brought from other areas is piled at the tunnel entrance, the report said, something experts say is needed to fill up tunnels before a nuclear test. The dirt indicates a "high possibility" North Korea will stage a nuclear test, the report said, as plugging tunnels was the final step taken during its two previous underground nuclear tests.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28898968


U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters she was not in a position to confirm whether North Korea was preparing for a nuclear test after the rocket launch.


She said a launch would be "highly provocative" and a nuclear test "would be equally bad, if not worse."

Nuland said the U.S. was urging China to use its influence with North Korea to dissuade it from going ahead with the launch.

Asked about Japanese and South Korean preparations to shoot down any parts of the rocket that threaten to fall on their territory, Nuland told reporters that countries in the region have the right to "self-defense."

North Korea announced plans last month to launch an observation satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

The U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, warning that firing the long-range rocket would violate U.N. resolutions and North Korea's promise to refrain from engaging in nuclear and missile activity.

Nuland declined to specify what consequences Pyongyang might face if the launch goes ahead

At the very least, it would ruin a Feb. 29 U.S.-North Korean accord under which the North agreed to a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and a freeze on its uranium enrichment program in exchange for U.S. food aid.

Wikileaks: Kony video maker spied for UPDF



Felix Kulayigye

 By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO (email the author)


Posted Tuesday, April 10 2012 at 00:00

Leaked cables of secret diplomatic notes by American officials in Uganda to Washington reveal that Invisible Children, the makers of the controversial film, Kony 2012, shared intelligence information with Ugandan security operatives that led to the arrest of a number of suspected regime critics. According to the memos posted by whistle-blower Wikileaks, Mr Patrick Komakech, a reported ex-LRA child soldier currently facing treason charges with a dozen other co-accused, was arrested on March 5, 2009, following a tip-off from officials of Invisible Children.

The development will offer critics fodder to suggest that the US charity should not be entitled to its not-for-profit status that presents fringe benefits such as tax exemptions. Mr Komakech’s arrest, the cable said, was made possible because he had been featured in past documentaries by Invisible Children, and is understood to have led to a swoop that eventually uncovered the supposed recruitment of disgruntled “northerners into anti-Museveni rebel groups”, backed by LRA-leaning individuals from the Acholi Diaspora


“Invisible Children reported that Komakech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organisations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested him,” wrote former US ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning in the June 11, 2009 cable.


“He had a satellite telephone and other gadgets which were confiscated when he was picked up.”

Both the UPDF and Invisible Children moved to dismiss details of the leaked memo yesterday, while officials from the US Mission in Kampala were unavailable for comment due to the Easter holiday.

“That’s a lie. Komakech was arrested in broad day light and we didn’t need a muzungu to tell us where he was,” UPDF Spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said.

Invisible Children Uganda Spokesperson Florence Ogola said: “That is not true. We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.”

She said allegations that the charity was involved in spy work on behalf of the UPDF is part of the “propaganda” and “tagging” that is gaining prominence after the release of the 30-minute Kony 2012 video early this year, which critics dismissed for its supposed simplistic portrayal of the two-decade conflict and insistence on a military solution.

In an interview yesterday, Water Minister Betty Bigombe, who was at the heart of negotiations between government and the LRA, admitted that she “got wind of the role” Invisible Children played in bringing Mr Komakech back to Uganda from Nairobi, where he had been holed up but said she was “unaware” if the charity may have helped Ugandan security in having him arrested.

Mr Browning wrote that Ms Bigombe, “who has known Mr Komakech for 10 years, said he had confessed to being part of a new anti-government movement in the north.”


Mr Komakech is said to have been on the Ugandan security radar, reputedly for impersonating LRA leaders to extort money by presenting “fake defection” plans.

Ms Bigombe said she knew Komakech “very well”, as a child soldier she met during the first peace process in the early 90s and eventually a resourceful individual during the Juba peace process but admitted she was “shocked” to discover “he was playing games with other ex-rebels.”

Mr Browning wrote, however: “Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence officers confirmed Komakech’s confession and said the new group, previously called the Uganda People’s Front, is now the PPF.”

The ex-envoy said Mr Komakech reportedly gave the locations of several arms caches in Pader District with a total of 600 weapons recovered, and reported that the group had begun recruiting throughout the north, from West Nile to Pader.

Mr Komakech is said to have named several former LRA combatants that had been integrated into the UPDF as members of the new group as well as other civilian participants.

egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com