Tag Archives: North Korea

U.S. Navy chief asks Chinese counterpart for help on North Korea

Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson poses after speaking to reporters on the pier of the USS Coronado, a littoral combat ship, at the Changi Naval Base in Singapore, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Himani Sarkar

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy’s top officer asked his Chinese counterpart to exert influence on North Korea to help rein in its advancing nuclear and missile programs, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson spoke with his Chinese counterpart Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong via a video teleconference.

“Richardson voiced his concern about the nuclear and missile programs and emphasized that China should use its unique influence over North Korea,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The call lasted for an hour and the two talked about the need to “work together to address the provocative and unacceptable military behavior by North Korea,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

Last month U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea had failed.

Trump has hoped for greater help from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticism of Chinese trade practices.

North Korea recently said it conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, and that it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile.

The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The past six decades have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism as well as rhetoric that has stopped short of a resumption of active hostilities.

Tensions rose sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Russia, U.S. duel at U.N. over whether North Korea fired long-range missile

The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 is seen during its test in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, July 5 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and Russia are waging rival campaigns at the United Nations Security Council over the type of ballistic missile fired by North Korea earlier this month as the U.S. pushes to impose stronger sanctions on Pyongyang over the test.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley held an intelligence briefing for her council colleagues on Monday to argue that Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), diplomats said, which was attended by Russia and North Korean ally China.

U.N. diplomats said Russia had suggested that Russian and U.S. military experts exchange information on the launch.

The U.S. briefing came after Russia sent a brief letter and diagram on July 8 to the 15-member Security Council, seen by Reuters, asserting that its radars determined that the missile launched by Pyongyang on July 4 was medium-range.

Russia’s contention that North Korea did not fire an ICBM hinders Washington’s push for the Security Council to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea. The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France are veto-wielding council members.

Typically the council has condemned medium-range ballistic missiles launches by North Korea with a statement. Diplomats say China and Russia only view a long-range missile test or nuclear weapon test as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described the missile launch as an ICBM test, which completes his country’s strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs, the state KCNA news agency said.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council had ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and two long-range missile launches.

The United States gave China a draft resolution two weeks ago to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea over the July 4 missile launch. Haley had been aiming for a vote within weeks, but a senior U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the U.S. negotiations with China as “slow-going.”

Traditionally, the United States and China have negotiated sanctions on North Korea before formally involving other council members. Diplomats said Washington informally keeps Britain and France in the loop, while China was likely talking to Russia.

Haley said on July 5 that some options to strengthen U.N. sanctions were to restrict the flow of oil to North Korea’s military and weapons programs, increasing air and maritime restrictions and imposing sanctions on senior officials.

Following a nuclear weapons test by North Korea in September, while U.S. President Barack Obama was still in office, it took the U.N. Security Council three months to agree to strengthened sanctions.

Shortly after North Korea’s July 4 missile launch Russia objected to a Security Council condemnation because a U.S.-drafted press statement labeled it an ICBM. Diplomats said negotiations on the statement stalled.

(Additional reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Michael Perry)

North Korea conducts public executions for theft, watching South Korea media: report

A graphic showing suspected killing sites in North Korea is seen in a report compiled by Transitional Justice Working Group, during an interview with a researcher from the group in Seoul, South Korea, July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

By Christine Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, a report issued on Wednesday said.

The report, by a Seoul-based non-government group, said the often extra-judicial decisions for public executions are frequently influenced by “bad” family background or a government campaign to discourage certain behavior.

The Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) said its report was based on interviews with 375 North Korean defectors from the isolated state over a period of two years.

Reuters could not independently verify the testimony of defectors in the report. The TJWG is made up of human rights activists and researchers and is led by Lee Younghwan, who has worked as an advocate for human rights in North Korea.

It receives most of its funding from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy, which in turn is funded by the U.S. Congress.

The TJWG report aims to document the locations of public killings and mass burials, which it says had not been done previously, to support an international push to hold to account those who commit what it describes as crimes against humanity.

“The maps and the accompanying testimonies create a picture of the scale of the abuses that have taken place over decades,” the group said.

North Korea rejects charges of human rights abuses, saying its citizens enjoy protection under the constitution and accuses the United States of being the world’s worst rights violator.

However, the North has faced an unprecedented push to hold the regime and its leader, Kim Jong Un, accountable for a wide range of rights abuses since a landmark 2014 report by a United Nations commission.

U.N. member countries urged the Security Council in 2014 to consider referring North Korea and its leader to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, as alleged in a Commission of Inquiry report.

The commission detailed abuses including large prison camps, systematic torture, starvation and executions comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, and linked the activities to the North’s leadership.

North Korea has rejected that inquiry’s findings and the push to bring the North to a tribunal remains stalled due in part to objections by China and Russia, which hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council.

TJWG said its project to map the locations of mass graves and executions has the potential to contribute to documentation that could back the push for accountability and future efforts to bring the North to justice.

It said executions are carried out in prison camps to incite fear and intimidation among potential escapees, and public executions are carried out for seemingly minor crimes, including the theft of farm produce such as corn and rice.

Stealing electric cables and other commodities from factories to sell them and distribution of South Korean-produced media are also subject to executions, which are most commonly administered by shooting, it said.

Testimonies also showed people can be beaten to death, with one interviewee saying: “Some crimes were considered not worth wasting bullets on.”

Government officials were executed on corruption and espionage charges, and bureaucrats from other regions would be made to watch “as a deterrence tactic”, the report said.

Defectors from the North have previously testified to having witnessed public executions and rights abuses at detention facilities.

(Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Paul Tait)

South Korea’s new government proposes military talks with North Korea

A South Korean security guard stands guard on an empty road which leads to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) at the South's CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine), just south of the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, February 11, 2016. The Korean characters on the gateway reads "Inter-Korean Transit Office".

By Christine Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea on Monday proposed military talks with North Korea, the first formal overture to Pyongyang by the government of President Moon Jae-in, to discuss ways to avoid hostile acts near the heavily militarized border.

There was no immediate response by the North to the proposal for talks later this week. The two sides technically remain at war but Moon, who came to power in May, has pledged to engage the North in dialogue as well as bring pressure to impede its nuclear and missile programs.

The offer comes after the North claimed to have conducted the first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this month, and said it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile. South Korea and the United States, its main ally, dispute the claim.

“Talks and cooperation between the two Koreas to ease tension and bring about peace on the Korean peninsula will be instrumental for pushing forth a mutual, virtuous cycle for inter-Korea relations and North Korea’s nuclear problem,” the South’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a news briefing.

The South Korean defense ministry proposed talks with the North on July 21 at Tongilgak to stop all activities that fuel tension at the military demarcation line.

Tongilgak is a North Korean building at the Panmunjom truce village on the border used for previous inter-Korea talks. The last such talks were held in December 2015.

Cho also urged the restoration of military and government hotlines across the border, which had been cut by the North last year in response to the South imposing economic sanctions after a nuclear test by Pyongyang. In all, the North has conducted five nuclear tests and numerous missile tests.

The South also proposed separate talks by the rival states’ Red Cross organizations to resume a humanitarian project to reunite families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War in closely supervised events held over a few days.

The South Korean Red Cross suggested talks be held on Aug. 1, with possible reunions over the Korean thanksgiving Chuseok holiday, which falls in October this year.

The last such reunions were held in October 2015 during the government of Moon’s predecessor under a futile push for reconciliation following a sharp increase in tension over border incidents involving a landmine blast and artillery fire.

 

BEIJING IN FAVOR

China, which has close ties to Pyongyang despite Beijing’s anger over North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, welcomed the proposal, saying cooperation and reconciliation between the two Koreas was good for everyone and could help ease tensions.

“We hope that North and South Korea can work hard to go in a positive direction and create conditions to break the deadlock and resume dialogue and consultation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

The proposals come after Moon said at the G20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month that he was in favor of dialogue with the North despite the “nuclear provocation” of its latest missile test.

When Moon visited Washington after being elected president, he and U.S. President Donald Trump said they were open to renewed dialogue with North Korea but only under circumstances that would lead to Pyongyang giving up its weapons programs.

“The fact that we wish to take on a leading role in resolving this (North Korean) issue has already been understood at the summit with the United States and the Group of 20 summit meetings,” Cho said on Monday.

In the proposal for talks, South Korea did not elaborate on the meaning of hostile military activities, which varies between the two Koreas. South Korea usually refers to loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts by both sides, while the North wants a halt to routine joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

Moon suggested earlier this month hostile military activities at the border be ended on July 27, the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. Since no truce was agreed, the two sides remain technically at war.

When asked if South Korea was willing to “be flexible” on military drills with the United States should North Korea be open to talks, Cho said the government had not discussed the matter specifically.

Pyongyang has repeatedly said it refuses to engage in all talks with the South unless Seoul turns over 12 waitresses who defected to the South last year after leaving a restaurant run by the North in China.

North Korea says the South abducted the 12 waitresses and the restaurant manager and has demanded their return, but the South has said the group decided to defect of its own free will. Cho said this matter is not included on the talks agenda.

In an act to rein in the North, the United States is preparing new sanctions on Chinese banks and firms doing business with Pyongyang possibly within weeks, two senior U.S. officials said last week.

 

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 

Stalled Russia sanctions bill hits North Korean snag in U.S. Congress

The U.S. Capitol building is seen before U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of the U.S. Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington January 28, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bill that many lawmakers hoped would send a message to President Donald Trump to keep a strong line against Russia hit a new snag in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, as Republicans proposed combining it with sanctions on North Korea.

The Russia sanctions bill passed the Senate on June 15 by 98-2, but it has not come up for a vote in the House.

The chamber’s Republican leaders initially said there was a technical problem with how the bill was written, but after the Senate altered the bill to fix it, the measure still did not move.

On Friday, Republicans suggested reworking the legislation to add new sanctions on North Korea. The Russia sanctions measure passed by the Senate is part of a broader bill that also includes new sanctions on Iran.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he wanted the North Korea sanctions added to the bill.

“It would be a very strong statement for all of America to get that sanction bill completed and done, and to the president’s desk,” the Republican lawmaker said in the House as it wrapped up its activity for the week.

Democrats rejected the suggestion as another tactic by Republicans supporting White House objections to the bill.

“This isn’t a serious proposal. It’s the latest delay tactic,” said Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The House passed a new package of sanctions on North Korea in May by 419-1, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican, said on Thursday his committee would be taking it up soon.

On Friday, Corker said he would be “more than glad” to consider adding North Korea to the legislation if the House chose to do so.

Engel said there was no point in passing North Korea legislation again.

The Trump administration objects to a provision in the Russia bill that sets up a process for Congress to approve any effort by the president to ease sanctions on Moscow.

Seeking a greater influence in foreign policy, Congress has included provisions in a few recent major bills, starting with Corker’s 2015 legislation forcing congressional review of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

Lawmakers and aides have been negotiating for weeks to try to craft a compromise that would allow the Russia-Iran bill to move forward. On Thursday, they said they thought it could advance soon but on Friday said the North Korea issue made that less likely. [L1N1K42BV]

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

North Korea may have more nuclear bomb material than thought: U.S. think tank

A satellite image of the radiochemical laboratory at the Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea by Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North released on July 14, 2017. “Includes material Pleiades © CNES 2017 Distribution Airbus DS / Spot Image, all rights reserved.” Courtesy Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North/Handout via REUTERS

By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thermal images of North Korea’s main nuclear site show Pyongyang may have reprocessed more plutonium than previously thought that can be used to enlarge its nuclear weapons stockpile, a U.S. think tank said on Friday.

The analysis by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korean monitoring project, was based on satellite images of the radiochemical laboratory at the Yongbyon nuclear plant from September until the end of June, amid rising international concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

The think tank said images of the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon could also indicate operation of centrifuges that could be used to increase North Korea’s stock of enriched uranium, its other source of bomb fuel.

There were signs too of at least short-term activity at North Korea’s Experimental Light Water Reactor that could be cause for concern, 38 North said.

The images of the radiochemical laboratory showed there had been at least two reprocessing cycles not previously known aimed at producing “an undetermined amount of plutonium that can further increase North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile,” something that would worry U.S. officials who see Pyongyang as one of the world’s top security threats.

It was unclear if the thermal activity detected at the uranium plant was the result of centrifuge operations or maintenance.

It said the thermal patterns at the plant’s isotope/tritium production facility suggested it was not operational and was therefore not producing tritium, an essential isotope used in boosted yield and hydrogen weapons.

North Korea manufactures atomic bombs using uranium and plutonium and has tested five nuclear bombs. Officials and experts say it could test a sixth at any time, despite U.S.-led international efforts to curb its program.

Pyongyang said its penultimate test in January 2016 was of a hydrogen bomb, something experts have treated with skepticism.

North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and last week tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, which experts said could hit all of Alaska and parts of the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Frustrated that China, North Korea’s main trading partner, has not done more to rein in Pyongyang, the Trump administration could impose new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other companies doing business with Pyongyang within weeks, two senior U.S. officials told Reuters this week.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has been seeking to overcome resistance from China and Russia to a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing stiffer international sanctions on Pyongyang.

Experts at 38 North estimated in April that North Korea could have as many as 20 nuclear bombs and could produce one more each month.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Exclusive: U.S. prepares new sanctions on Chinese firms over North Korea ties – officials

FILE PHOTO: Flags of U.S. and China are placed for a meeting in Beijing, China June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee

By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea, the Trump administration could impose new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other firms doing business with Pyongyang within weeks, two senior U.S. officials said.

The U.S. measures would initially hit Chinese entities considered “low-hanging fruit,” including smaller financial institutions and “shell” companies linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, said one of the officials, while declining to name the targets.

It would leave larger Chinese banks untouched for now, the official said.

The timing and scope of the U.S. action will depend heavily on how China responds to pressure for tougher steps against North Korea when U.S. and Chinese officials meet for a high-level economic dialogue in Washington on Wednesday, the administration sources told Reuters.

President Donald Trump and his top aides have signaled growing impatience with China over North Korea, especially since Pyongyang last week test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, which experts say could put all of Alaska in range for the first time.

U.S. officials have also warned that China could face U.S. trade and economic pressure – something Trump has held in abeyance since taking office in January – unless it does more to restrain its neighbor.

The so-called “secondary sanctions” now being considered are a way for the United States to apply targeted economic pressure on companies in countries with ties to North Korea by denying them access to the U.S. market and financial system.

Word of the sanctions plan comes as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley seeks to overcome resistance from China and Russia to a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing stiffer international sanctions on Pyongyang.

The targets now being weighed for sanctions would come from a list of firms numbering “substantially more than 10” that Trump shared with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a Florida summit in April and which U.S. experts have continued to compile for review, according to one of the officials.

The administration has yet to see what it considers a sufficient response from China.

“The president is losing patience with China,” the official said, adding that there would be a “more aggressive approach to sanctioning Chinese entities … in the not-too-distant future.”

China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The White House declined comment.

HALEY’S WARNING

Though the sources stressed that no final decisions had been made, they said China, North Korea’s main trading partner, was crucial to pressuring Pyongyang to prevent it from achieving the capability of striking the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.

During a U.N. Security Council meeting last week, Haley threatened secondary sanctions if the council could not agree on new sanctions – though she did not cite China by name.

In late June, Washington imposed secondary sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and accused a regional Chinese bank, the Bank of Dandong, of laundering money for Pyongyang.

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Fresh U.S. sanctions would be aimed at sending a message to Beijing of Washington’s resolve to act further on its own.

But they would stop short, at least for now, of the kind of broad “sectoral” sanctions Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, secured through unilateral and international action against Iran to pressure it into negotiations to curb its nuclear program.

Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to Washington, said on Monday that secondary sanctions were “not acceptable.”

“Such actions are obstructing cooperation between China and the U.S. and lead to questions about the real intentions of the U.S. side,” according to a transcript of his remarks from the Chinese embassy.

The threat of further secondary sanctions on Chinese companies could complicate next week’s U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, an important forum for narrowing differences between the world’s two biggest economies.

While preparations for fresh sanctions are moving forward, tangible new steps by China could prompt Washington to put the measures on hold, the U.S. sources said.

“They’d have to show they’re really serious,” the second official said. “We’re not going to be paralyzed into inaction.”

U.S. and U.N. sanctions have so far failed to deter Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear and missile programs.

Trump pledged repeatedly during his election campaign to get tough on Chinese trade practices deemed unfair to the United States, but his rhetoric softened after the friendlier-than-expected April summit with Xi.

Shortly after their meeting, Trump said he had told Xi that China would get a better trade deal if it reined in North Korea.

But in recent weeks, Trump has fired off tweets denouncing China’s trade with North Korea and cast doubt on whether Beijing was doing enough to counter Pyongyang.

Reflecting growing concern about North Korea on Capitol Hill, two members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Republican Pat Toomey, announced on Wednesday they would soon introduce legislation for North Korea modeled on the Iran secondary sanctions laws passed by Congress.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick, additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Ross Colvin)

China trade with sanctions-struck North Korea up 10.5 percent in first half

FILE PHOTO: A Chinese flag is seen in front of the Friendship bridge over the Yalu River connecting the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in China's Liaoning Province, April 1, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

By Fang Cheng and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s trade with isolated North Korea rose more than 10 percent in the January-June period from a year earlier, a Chinese official said on Thursday, amid pressure from the United States for Beijing to pressurize its troublesome neighbor.

Last week U.S. President Donald Trump denounced China’s trade with North Korea, saying it had grown almost 40 percent in the first quarter, and cast doubt on whether Beijing was helping to counter the threat from North Korea.

China has repeatedly said it is fully enforcing United Nations sanctions on nuclear-armed North Korea and there is nothing wrong with what it terms “normal” trade with Pyongyang, referring to areas not covered by sanctions.

Chinese customs spokesman Huang Songping told a briefing on China’s overall trade figures that total trade with North Korea expanded by 10.5 percent to $2.55 billion in the first six months of the year.

While China’s imports from North Korea dropped 13.2 percent to $880 million in the period from January to June, exports to North Korea rose 29.1 percent to $1.67 billion, he said.

The exports were largely driven by textile products and other traditional labor-intensive goods not included on the United Nations embargo list, Huang added.

“As neighbors, China and North Korea maintain normal business and trade exchanges,” he said, adding that goods for ordinary people and those used for humanitarian reasons are not subject to sanctions.

Overall trade growth with North Korea slowed in June, compared with previous second-quarter months.

Trade in dollar terms with North Korea rose about 12 percent in June from a month earlier to $499 million, according to Reuters calculations based on previously released data.

The calculations do not reflect revisions to earlier figures that may not have been announced.

In May, trade with North Korea gained 14.5 percent from April to $443.5 million, previously released customs data show.

ENFORCING RESOLUTIONS

Numbers showing an increase are not evidence that China is failing to enforce U.N. resolutions, with imports from North Korea falling every month since March, Huang added.

China suspended imports of North Korean coal in February, while imports of iron ore accord with relevant U.N. resolutions, he said.

“China customs have all along fully, accurately, conscientiously and strictly enforced relevant Security Council resolutions.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said U.N. resolutions did not cover iron and iron ore for civilian purposes, warning against confusion over U.N. sanctions being viewed as comprehensive sanctions on North Korea.

“For China to maintain normal economic relations with North Korea does not violate U.N. resolutions,” he told a daily news briefing.

Adding to the potential for further U.S.-China trade friction, China had a $25.4-billion trade surplus with the United States in June, up from $22.0 billion in May, customs data showed. The surplus with the United States was China’s largest since October 2015.

While China has been angered by North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests, it also blames the United States and South Korea for worsening tension with their military exercises and not doing enough to get talks back on track, as Beijing has proposed.

Though Trump took a more conciliatory tone on the North Korea issue and China’s role at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, Beijing has begun taking a harder rhetorical line with Washington in the past few days.

China’s Foreign Ministry this week urged a halt to what it called the “China responsibility theory” on North Korea, saying all parties needed to pull their weight.

Trade between China and North Korea has declined in both 2015 and 2016, a senior government-backed academic said in a front-page comment in the overseas edition of the official People’s Daily on Wednesday.

“Certain countries have no right to make wanton criticisms of China,” wrote Su Xiaohui of the Foreign Ministry think-tank, the China Institute of International Studies.

An “unexpected” jump in first-quarter trade between China and North Korea masked a declining trend, the state-run Global Times newspaper said last week.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Woo, Philip Wen and Stella Qiu; Editing by Sam Holmes and Clarence Fernandez)

U.S. missile hits test target as North Korea tension rises

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is seen in Seongju, South Korea, June 13, 2017. Picture taken on June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Tuesday it shot down a simulated, incoming intermediate-range ballistic missile similar the ones being developed by countries like North Korea, in a new test of the nation’s defenses.

Planned months ago, the U.S. missile defense test over the Pacific Ocean has gained significance after North Korea’s July 4 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile heightened concerns about the threat from Pyongyang.

The test was the first-ever of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system against an incoming IRBM, which experts say is a faster and more difficult target to hit than shorter-range missiles.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said the IRBM was designed to behave similarly to the kinds of missiles that could threaten the United States.

“The successful demonstration of THAAD against an IRBM-range missile threat bolsters the country’s defensive capability against developing missile threats in North Korea and other countries,” the Missile Defense Agency said in a statement.

The United States has deployed THAAD to Guam and South Korea to help guard against threats from North Korea. A ground-based missile defense system, THAAD is designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

In the latest test, a THAAD in Kodiak, Alaska, intercepted a ballistic missile target that was air-launched from a C-17 aircraft flying north of Hawaii, the Missile Defense Agency said in a statement.

This success leaves THAAD with a 100 percent track record for all 14 intercept attempts since flight testing began just over a decade ago.

Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N>, the prime contractor for the THAAD system, said it could intercept incoming missiles both inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The United States deployed THAAD to South Korea this year to guard against North Korea’s shorter-range missiles. That has drawn fierce criticism from China, which says the system’s powerful radar can probe deep into its territory.

Earlier this month Moscow and Beijing, in a joint statement, called on Washington to immediately halt deployment of THAAD in South Korea.

The statement said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the region.

THAAD’s success rate in testing is far higher than the one for America’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, which is designed to shoot down an ICBM headed for the U.S. mainland.

That GMD system has only a 55 percent success rate over the life of the program. But advocates say the technology has improved dramatically in recent years.

The GMD system successfully shot down an incoming, simulated North Korean ICBM in a test in May.

That led the Pentagon to upgrade its assessment of the United States’ ability to defend against a small number of ICBMs, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The Missile Defense Agency told Congress in June that it planned to deliver 52 more THAAD interceptors to U.S. Army between October 2017 and September 2018, bringing total deliveries to 210 since May 2011.

(Writing by Susan Heavey and Phil Stewart; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Von Ahn)

China says ‘China responsibility theory’ on North Korea has to stop

The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 5, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) – China hit back on Tuesday in unusually strong terms at repeated calls from the United States to put more pressure on North Korea, urging a halt to what it called the “China responsibility theory”, and saying all parties needed to pull their weight.

U.S President Trump took a more conciliatory tone at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, but he has expressed some impatience that China, with its close economic and diplomatic ties to Pyongyang, is not doing enough to rein in North Korea.

That feeling has become particularly acute since Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that some experts believe could have the range to reach Alaska, and parts of the U.S. West Coast.

Asked about calls from the United States, Japan and others for China to put more pressure on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was not China ratcheting up tension and the key to a resolution did not lie with Beijing.

“Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called ‘China responsibility theory,'” Geng told a daily news briefing, without naming any parties.

“I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility,” he added.

China has been making unremitting efforts and has played a constructive role, but all parties have to meet each other half way, Geng said.

“Asking others to do work, but doing nothing themselves is not OK,” he added. “Being stabbed in the back is really not OK.”

While China has been angered by North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests, it also blames the United States and South Korea for worsening tension with their military exercises.

China has been upset with the U.S. deployment of an advanced anti-missile system in South Korea too, which it says threatens its own security and will do nothing to ease tensions.

Additionally, Beijing has complained about Washington putting unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals for their dealings with North Korea.

Geng questioned how China’s efforts could bear fruit if, while it tried to put out the flames, others added oil to the fire, and if, while it enforced U.N. resolutions, others harmed its interests.

Everyone needed to accept their responsibilities to get the North Korea issue back on the correct track of a peaceful resolution through talks, he added.

“The ‘China responsibility theory’ on the peninsula nuclear issue can stop,” Geng said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)