North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday carrying what it said was an Earth observation satellite into space.
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Kaesong was born out the “Sunshine Policy” of inter-Korean conciliation initiated in the late 1990s by South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung which led to a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in 2000.
The launch, which was announced in advance, again defied United Nations sanctions just weeks after a nuclear bomb test, but it has so far failed to convince experts that Pyongyang has significantly advanced its rocket technology.
Two US-based human rights charities have made public appeals for donations of USB sticks, in an effort to smuggle illegal material into North Korea.
In 2013, North Korea shut down the complex for five months during a period of diplomatic tension. It will begin pulling South Koreans from the park on Thursday.
“We have made a decision to stop all operations at the Kaesong industrial complex so that… our investment in the complex would not be used by the North to fund its nuclear and missile development”, Hong Yong-Pyo, Seoul’s unification minister in charge of cross-border affairs, said.
For their part, USA senators are expected to vote on Wednesday on a sanctions package that targets North Korea’s ability to access the money it needs for developing miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles to deliver them, according to the legislation’s backers.
His Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said, “there is perhaps no nation on this planet more dedicated to fear and intimidation than North Korea”.
While the worldwide body is yet to unveil concrete steps to rein in Pyongyang, Seoul officials have been holding talks with counterparts from the United States and Japan to discuss how they can punish the North even without the support of key U.N. Security Council players China and Russian Federation.
The resolution said Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and long-range missile test clearly violated UN Security Council resolutions, denouncing the reckless provocative acts threatening peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the global community.
TOKYO – Japan widened sanctions against North Korea in response to the Kim Jong Un regime’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the rocket successfully put a satellite into orbit, though it has yet to verify if it is operating normally, Yonhap News reported February 9.
The North rarely issues public announcement related to purges or executions of high-level officials.
Ri was the chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army. The source declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.
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Yonhap did not identify its sources.
