DPRK Urges South Korea to Improve Inter-Korean Relations

Xinhua
2017/5/31 22:52:53

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday urged the South Korean new government to improve inter-Korean relations.

Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, said in a commentary that the adoption of the June 15 Joint Declaration thawed the north-south confrontation which had existed for more than half a century.

The June 15 Joint Declaration was issued after then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and late DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il met in Pyongyang in 2000.

The keynote of the declaration is that the Korean nation is responsible for Korea's reunification and the issue of national reunification should be settled independently solely by the Korean nation itself.

"In the wake of the adoption of the joint declaration, the inter-Korean relations of distrust and confrontation turned into those of national reconciliation and unity," said the commentary.

However, the hope of national reunification was "trampled down" by the former conservative South Korean government, it said, adding that the deterioration of the inter-Korean relations is the root cause of all the problems in South Korea such as "security unrest, a diplomatic crisis and economic catastrophe."

"The present South Korean authorities are at the crossroads," said the commentary, urging the current South Korean government improve north-south relations.

The commentary also called for the removal of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system.

Alliance With Outsiders or Cooperation With Compatriots

Pyongyang Times

Dependence on foreign forces is a main obstacle to independent reunification and inter-Korean cooperation is the way to peace and prosperity.

The chequered history of inter-Korean relations teaches the lesson that persistence in reliance on and servility to foreign forces makes it impossible to achieve the cause of independent reunification but incurs disaster.

As the successive south Korean conservative regimes clung to subservient and blind alliance with outsiders, a vicious cycle of mistrust and confrontation was repeated and serious obstacles stood in the way of peace and stability in the Korean peninsula.

The conservative authorities steeped in dependence on outside forces were hell-bent on confrontation with the fellow countrymen in league with foreign forces, while turning away from the north’s compatriotic stand and initiatives for resolving the national issue of reunification by the untied efforts of the nationals.

Alliance with outsiders have brought the nation only misfortune and suffering.

Crying for cooperation with outsiders, Lee Myung Bak banned the tour of Mt Kumgang, which had been realized thanks to the June 15 2000 inter-Korean summit, on the pretext of a “tourist incident” and fabricated the sunken Cheonan incident to come out with the “May 24 measures”, totally blocking visit and exchange between the north and south, a grave challenge to national unity. His “no nukes, opening and 3 000 dollars” and Park Geun Hye’s “Dresden declaration” and “trust-building process” were all confrontational policies conceived to harm the fellow countrymen through anti-DPRK cooperation with outside forces that clamoured for the “settlement of the north’s nuclear issue”.

The conservative clans set confrontation with the fellow countrymen as their policy and brought the dark cloud of nuclear war to the Korean peninsula in collusion with foreign forces, with the result that the security of the nation was at risk.

It is natural that Park Geun Hye, a wicked confrontation maniac who had pursued unconditional subservience to outside forces, was given a stern punishment in March by the locals who turned out in massive candlelit rallies.

The reality demands that whoever truly cares about the destiny of the nation and wishes for reunification should work for inter-Korean cooperation.

It is the truth proved by history that inter-Korean cooperation brings about peace and prosperity.

In the June 15 era of By Our Nation Itself the north and south opened by pooling minds and efforts, bilateral exchanges were briskly conducted in the domains of politics, economy and culture and the air, overland and sea routes which had been closed for half a century were opened. Northern and southern players jointly entered the venue of international sports events flying One Korea flag to demonstrate the might of a reunified Korean nation.

Separated families and relatives, who had not heard from each other for decades, held heart-warming reunions and the Koreans in the north and south experienced reunification in Pyongyang and Seoul as they had candid talks with each other.

The June 15 era full of eye-opening events left an indelible impression on the nationals.

That is why the southerners from all social strata are raising voices for improved inter-Korean relations.

The South Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration has recently conducted signature campaigns in different areas and issued a “3 000 women’s peace declaration” to assert that the north and south should open an era of reconciliation and cooperation for reunification at any cost. In December last year senior public figures set it as one of the ten tasks for redressing south Korean politics to normalize relations by specifying in the constitution that peaceful reunification is a fixed policy for peace, withdrawing the “May 24 measures” and resuming the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Park.

The reality shows that inter-Korean cooperation is the aspiration of the Koreans and the demand of the times.

By Choe Yong Nam PT

Kim Jong Un Oversees Ballistic Rocket Test Launch

Pyongyang Times

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, oversaw the test of a ballistic rocket equipped with a precision guided system.

He was accompanied by Ri Pyong Chol, Kim Rak Gyom, Kim Jong Sik, Jang Chang Ha, Jong Sung Il and Jon Il Ho.

He came to the launch site to acquaint himself with the homemade caterpillar self-propelled launcher and the tactical and technical specifications of the precision guided ballistic rocket. He was satisfied with the upgraded weapon system whose launch time has been markedly cut as compared to that of the previous Hwasong series thanks to its highly automated pre-launch procedure, a technical advancement that enables the system to rapidly contain and deter the enemy’s armed provocation.

The ballistic rocket flew as far as half of its range before hitting a set target exactly with a margin of error of seven metres.

The test launch checked the stability during the active flight of the rocket whose warhead has control wings, and re-verified the accuracy of speed adjustment and position stabilization by a mini heat jet motor during the intermediate flight.

It also proved the accuracy of the high-precision guidance by the updated terminal guidance system during the reentry, and fully verified the running characteristics of the new caterpillar launch vehicle in different terrains and the features of the automated pre-launch procedure.

Seeing the rocket strike the target, the Supreme Leader said that it seems as if a crack shot hit a target with a sniper rifle and that the defence science sector is developing world-level advanced technologies at will and in a Korean way. Our Party has a high opinion of this success, he added.

Each time news about such priceless success has been aired, he said, the Yankees would be increasingly worried and the south Korean military puppets would feel more depressed. We should set self-defensive military buildup as the foremost national affair and achieve bigger success in carrying out the Party’s long-term policy on building the defence industry, thus raising the country’s strategic position onto a higher level, he noted.

It is needed to bring the DPRK’s strength home to the Yankees and their lackeys and to make them keenly realize that military recklessness will lead only to death, he said, and the defence industry should build on the current success to continue to develop more powerful strategic weapon systems.

The defence science sector should do more consecutively to demonstrate the might of the country’s self-reliant defence industry according to our timetable and road map, he stated. He added that he was hopeful it would make further progress in such spirits to send a bigger “gift” to the Yankees.

He fervently called on the scientists, technicians, workers and officials in the defence science sector to sharpen the red sword of justice more and more till US imperialism is in tatters and its lackeys become obedient.

By PT staff reporter

Supreme Leader Views Aircraft-interception System Test

Pyongyang Times

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, watched the test fire of a latest anti-aircraft guided weapons system arranged by the Academy of National Defence Science.

Accompanying him were Hwang Pyong So, Ri Yong Gil, O Kum Chol, Kim Kwang Hyok, Ri Pyong Chol, Kim Jong Sik and Jong Sung Il.

On the spot he was greeted by Jang Chang Ha, Jon Il Ho and other officials, scientists and technicians of the academy and munitions factory.

The test was made by way of detecting and intercepting different air targets flying from different directions in simulation of enemy aircraft intruding into the country’s airspace.
The Supreme Leader was informed of the test programme at the observation post before giving an order to fire. When “enemy drones and missiles” appeared raiding at different altitudes and speeds, flashes of flames shot up through the sky in succession, followed by thunder, to hit the targets.

He told the accompanying officials that the weapons system's efficiency to detect and track targets has improved remarkably and its hitting accuracy has also increased, compared with those of last year. Its defects that were revealed last year have perfectly been overcome to pass muster, he said. He ordered them to mass-produce the weapons system, whose operation capability has thoroughly been verified, and deploy it across the country so as to shatter the enemy's wild dream to command the air, advocating the “theory of air supremacy and all-powerful weaponry”.

To rapidly boost the country’s anti-aircraft capability, it is also needed to research and develop the next-generation interception system without delay, he emphasized, before setting forth important tasks related to the strategy for developing an advanced anti-aircraft system of Korean style.

By PT staff reporter

FM Vice-minister Denounces Additional Sanctions Plan

“To turn away from the root cause of the escalating tension and denounce the DPRK for the inevitable option it chose to defend itself from that is nothing more than ‘flattery’ and ‘brown-nosing’ towards the backstage manipulators, rather than the expression of a stand based on the respect for international laws and regulations and the aspiration for world peace and stability,” Pak Myong Guk, vice-minister of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, stated on May 26.

The statement came as the US and its following forces are behaving frantically, clamouring for "additional sanctions" against the DPRK.

To term the DPRK's rocket launches a violation of "resolutions" of the UN Security Council is an expression of their ignorance or deliberate disregard of the fact that the "resolutions" are just the product of double-standards devoid of any legal grounds, he noted, and mentioned once again that there has not yet been any reply from the UN Secretariat though the DPRK demanded several times it explain the legal grounds for the anti-DPRK “sanctions resolutions” and proposed arranging an international forum of legal experts.

Although some countries “decry” or express “concern” about the DPRK’s rocket launches, they keep mum about the US act of bringing its nuclear-powered carrier strike groups and strategic nuclear submarines to the waters of the Korean peninsula to drive the situation to the brink of war, he said, referring to this as the most typical characteristics of vassal states bereft of independence and courage. He urged them to take the lead in realizing international justice, instead of toeing the US line, if they are truly interested in the defence of international peace and stability.

KCNA

Truth of ‘Maximum Pressure and Engagement’—US Korea Policy

With the passage of time it is becoming ever clearer that the "maximum pressure and engagement", though named anew, is an extension of the deep-rooted anti-DPRK policy the US has persistently pursued for decades and the culmination of the heinous policy to stifle the DPRK.

The keynote of the "maximum pressure" is to put intense pressure far surpassing those enforced by the successive American regimes upon the DPRK in the shortest possible period by employing all possible means and methods so as to make it succumb to the US demand for nuclear abandonment.

Accordingly, the Americans are blustering they will not hesitate to choose any extreme option in order to check the DPRK’s nuclear programme and make it totally scrap its nuclear weapons, bragging they will ratchet up sanctions and blockade to the maximum for the present.

As the US admits the limit of its strength in the showdown with the country, it is trying in every way to apply the “highest pressure north Korea has ever experienced” by involving not only its vassal states but also neighbouring countries.

Threats by force and high-intensity military pressure constitute a major component of the "maximum pressure" touted by the Trump clique.

To cite the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle 17 joint military exercises they staged this year as an example, they committed aggression forces to them, including special operation units, on the largest scale, daringly making public that their goal was to “eliminate the north Korean leadership” and “overthrow its regime”, discarding the deceptive signboard of “annual” and “defensive” drills.

The US war hawks deliberately spread the theories of “April war” and “nuclear war crisis” in the Korean peninsula to add fuel to tension. Not content with this, they continue to deploy forces after declaring the conclusion of the war games.

The “maximum pressure” also aims to extremely isolate the DPRK in the international diplomatic arena and deprive it of its sovereign right and its people of their elementary right to existence.

Going far beyond their predecessors in the anti-DPRK sanctions racket, the villainous Trump group is hatching all kinds of despicable plots to degrade the DPRK’s political and diplomatic status in the international community in every way and completely isolate and stifle it, insisting they would “slap sanctions on any countries, organizations and individuals and question even international organizations, if they support the north” and “strip it of UN membership”.

The “maximum pressure” is just the height of anti-DPRK hostility the US has pursued so far and a declaration of all-out war.

"Engagement" is part of the DPRK policy the current US administration is hyping so much as if it were a new solution to the north’s nuclear issue.

They spin out rhetoric day after day, saying “engagement” is geared to the “peaceful settlement” of the north’s nuclear issue and they also want the “settlement through dialogue and negotiations”, not only by pressure.

To level a gun at the DPRK behind to get it to surrender while offering their hand in front is as loathsome and shameless as a wolf bleating without wearing a sheep’s clothing.

The Trump administration is trying hard to embellish “engagement” as a gesture of goodwill.

As the Americans are well aware that they will never be able to stop the DPRK from building up its nuclear capabilities by such coercive means as the "maximum pressure", they are trying to cover up their miserable defeat and achieve the aim of the “north’s dismantlement of nuclear programme" by adopting all engagement tactics such as appeasement, deception, negotiation and dissuasion.

To the DPRK that has disgustingly experienced the US double standards, it associates the term “engagement” with a synonym for a cover for aggression and plunder.

It is the US that has poured cold water on the sincere efforts of the other side aspiring for a negotiated settlement and scrapped hard-won agreements by inventing all unfounded excuses.

Such historical processes give future generations such a bitter lesson that unless the US fundamentally withdraws its policy of hostility towards the DPRK, normal dialogue and negotiations between the two countries can never be expected and every good agreement will become a good-for-nothing eventually.

Such a US attempt to conceal its nasty true colours, disarm the DPRK and guide it to denuclearization by dint of the vacuous “engagement” is as foolish as a bid to set the ladder to the sky.

The "maximum pressure and engagement" loudly touted by the Trump administration has been fated to be thrown into the garbage bin since it came out.

Thunderstruck by the successful test launches of Hwasong 12 and Pukkuksong 2 ballistic rockets the DPRK has developed holding aloft the banner of promoting economic construction and nuclear arms buildup in parallel, the White House is still undecided as to whether to put up the “maximum pressure” card or the “maximum engagement” card.

It is the DPRK’s consistent and resolute stand to go steadily along its way no matter what others may clamour for sanctions and pressure and any US bravado will come to a miserable end unless it does an about-face in its anti-DPRK policy.

The US is now in such a pitiable plight in which it is unable to attack the DPRK it regards as a thorn in its flesh, though it did with other countries, and it can find no way but to apply sanctions and pressure by bringing together all the riffraff around the world.

The most perfect weapon system in the world cannot remain US monopoly, and the DPRK has the right to give a greater threat to it, if it poses a threat, and to mount a retaliatory, annihilating nuclear strike against it, if it commits a preemptive nuclear attack.

To do so belongs to the country’s independence, self-defence and dignity.

The US has to see its rival correctly and stop such foolish political sophism as the "maximum pressure and engagement" which can never be realized but will only elicit greater rebuff and challenge from its rival.

Recognition, respect, equality and reciprocity based on the withdrawal of its policy hostile towards the DPRK, not the "maximum pressure and engagement", constitute the basis of a correct policy for establishing normal relations between the DPRK and the US.

Time and tide wait for no man.

The Trump administration had better make a wise decision before meeting a bigger crisis and sustaining irrevocable defeat and ruin.

This is the excerpts from the commentator’s article carried on Rodong Sinmun, organ of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

UN Urged to Deal With Issues Fairly

The DPRK’s deputy permanent representative in the UN called a press conference on May 26 as regards the arrangement of an international forum of legal experts to probe into the legal ground of the anti-DPRK resolutions of the UN Security Council.

He condemned the US and its allies for picking on the DPRK over the steps to boost its self-defence capabilities and urged the UNSC and the UN Secretariat to behave impartially and prudently as regards the Korean peninsula situation, not blindly following the US.

The root cause of the tension on the peninsula teetering on the brink of war is the US’ incessant moves to stage provocative and aggressive joint military exercises by shipping all kinds of nuclear strategic assets in south Korea, he said.

He added that though the DPRK repeatedly requested the UNSC to discuss the joint military drills wrecking peace and security in the peninsula as its urgent agenda while sending letters to the UN secretary-general several times, the UN Secretariat turned its back on that, and branded the DPRK’s exercise of its legitimate right of self-defence as a violation of the "sanctions resolutions".

Noting the UN Secretariat has not yet given any reply to the DPRK’s request for organizing an international forum of legal experts for a probe into the legal ground of the "sanctions resolutions", he said the DPRK permanent mission in January 2017 proposed the UN Secretariat open an international forum in New York or Geneva in an effort to put an end to the illegal and wicked conduct persisting like a convention in the UNSC, but the US’ reptile broadcasting services spun out preposterous sophistries as to the legal ground of the "sanctions resolutions" as they quoted the non-professionals who are ignorant of international law.

In March 2017, he recalled, the DPRK permanent mission advanced a proposal to the UN Secretariat on letting governmental and non-governmental experts from all countries and international legal organizations attend the forum and on fixing its agenda rationally in full reflection of the opinions of the participants and such request was made on over 20 occasions afterwards including through letters to the UN secretary-general, press release of the mission and press conferences. It is preposterous for the UN Secretariat which is unable to clarify the legal ground of the resolutions to discuss their implementation, he decried.

The Secretariat of the UN, dedicated to global peace and security, should fulfil its responsibility on behalf of the international community and the UNSC and Secretariat should deal with international issues with impartiality and prudence, squarely seeing who really guarantees peace in the Korean peninsula before finding fault with the DPRK.

KCNA

Closer International Cooperation Urged in Disaster Risk Reduction

Chairman Kang Il Sop of the DPRK State Committee for Emergency and Disaster Management, on a visit to Cancun, Mexico, leading a delegation, made a speech at the meeting of heads of delegations to the world forum for disaster risk reduction on May 26.

Referring to the notable progress the DPRK has made in the efforts to reduce disaster risks in line with international agreements including the Sendai framework document, he said that the country will continue to strive to achieve the goals and carry out tasks set forth in the above-said document ahead of schedule by strictly adhering to the principle of attaching importance to the people and, to this end, work together with different governments and international organizations.

He stressed the need to take substantial measures fund disaster risk reduction efforts in developing and underdeveloped countries and to solve scientific and technological problems in order to promote international cooperation.

It is important to provide a favourable environment for boosting international cooperation in this pursuit, he said. However, illegal and unethical acts are being committed now in the international arena to deprive sovereign states of their rights to existence and development only to serve unreasonable political, economic and military purposes, he added.

He called for not allowing any unilateral sanctions and isolation policies against specific countries to adversely affect the international cooperation for disaster risk reduction.

KCNA

DPRK Health Minister Speaks at 70th World Health Assembly

Kang Ha Guk, minister of Public Health and head of the DPRK delegation, delivered a speech at the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland on May 24.

The DPRK’s consistent health policy is to make everyone benefit from universal free medical care and health facilities serve the patients devotedly, and, especially, take special care of children he noted, referring to last year’s preferential construction of health facilities, nurseries, kindergartens and schools in the flood-affected northern areas of the country and the recent renovation of the baby homes, orphanages and primary and middle schools for orphans in the country.

He stressed that the sustainable development goals for the promotion of humankind’s well-being would never be implemented unless an end is put to high-handedness and arbitrariness of putting political, military and economic pressure on other countries while regarding their political systems with hostility by unilateral standards and views.

He added the DPRK government would continue to closely cooperate with WHO and different countries to attain the health-related targets of the sustainable development goals.

KCNA

US Successfully Intercepts Ballistic Missile Target in Pacific

The Missile Defense Agency's Flight Test 06b Ground-Based Interceptor launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on June 22, 2014. Photo courtesy of Missile Defense Agency

Military.com | 30 May 2017 | by Richard Sisk
7:02 p.m. EST

The Defense Department on Tuesday improved a spotty record by destroying a mock intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific with a new hit-to-kill vehicle meant to protect the homeland against the growing threat from North Korea.

The launch of a Ground-based Midcourse Defense, or GMD, interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California against an ICBM-class target fired from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands resulted in a "direct collision," the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said in a statement.

"The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment for the GMD system and a critical milestone for this program," Vice Adm. Jim Syring, the agency's director, said in a statement. "This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat."

Advocates of the system -- which had failed in eight of 17 previous tests -- said the success on Tuesday validated the investments in the program.

"This was a good day for homeland defense and a bad day for Kim Jong-un," said Thomas Karako, a senior fellow for the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C., referring to the North Korean dictator.

The test that MDA estimated at $244 million had long been planned for May 30 but came as North Korea was stepping up its own medium and short-range missile tests and boasting of developing an ICBM with the range to hit the U.S. mainland with a "miniaturized" nuclear warhead that could survive reentry from space.

For the U.S., the intercept marked the first live-fire test against an ICBM-class target for the GMD missile, which is being developed by Boeing Co., according to the Missile Defense Agency.

The test was also the first for the new CE-II Block 1 kill vehicle, which uses newly-designed divert thrusters to correct previous problems with the guidance of the kill vehicle, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. that opposes nuclear arms proliferation. Divert thrusters are the small motors that make course adjustments when the kill vehicle is homing on its target and can make the difference between a hit and a miss, it said.

Karako of CSIS described it as "the latest configuration of the previous CE-II vehicle."

The hit-to-kill missile was designed to strike and destroy an incoming long-range missile by kinetic force, often compared to hitting a bullet with a bullet.

In previous tests, intercept team leaders knew the general trajectory of the target beforehand.

Chris Johnson, a spokesman for MDA, would not confirm that the trajectory of the target in the Tuesday test was given to the intercept team, but said that Vandenberg had a "general launch window."

Overall, the MDA said in a fact sheet, "Testing to date has given us confidence in the basic design, effectiveness, and operational capability for short, medium, and long-range ballistic missile defense."

Since the integrated defense system was initiated in 2001, MDA said that "75 of 92 hit-to-kill intercept attempts have been successful across all programs." The programs included GMD, the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3.

Nine of 17 GMD tests before May 30 were successful intercepts, MDA said. Of the eight that failed, three were because the interceptor and the booster failed to separate. Another failure was attributed to a kill vehicle guidance error in the final seconds of flight.

Other reasons for failures were cited as kill vehicle's infrared sensor cooling malfunctioned; interceptor failed to launch due to problematic software configuration; interceptor failed to launch after a silo support arm did not retract, triggering an automatic abort; and, simply, kill vehicle and system sensor performance issues.

During the test Tuesday, multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-band radar, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, also acquired and tracked the target, MDA said, and the GMD system received the target tracking data and developed a fire control solution to intercept the target.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of the threat from North Korea developing missiles capable of hitting the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead and has pressed China to rein in Kim Jong-un.

North Korea has detonated underground nuclear devices three times in the last five years and has greatly accelerated its testing of ballistic missiles. In its 12th test launch this year, North Korea on Monday fired a missile that flew about 280 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan.

The U.S. has also been concerned about North Korea switching from liquid to solid fuel for its missiles, which would significantly cut the time for launch preparations and limit the time for detection by satellite.

North Korea's actions appeared to have altered the policy initiatives of new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had spoken during the campaign of the need for new negotiations with North Korea rather than confrontation and also questioned the placement of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.

In phone talks Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Moon said he would press for more sanctions on North Korea before considering new talks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

"I agree with the prime minister's (Abe's) words that now is not time for dialogue with North Korea, but a time to heighten sanctions and pressure," spokesman Park Soo-hyun quoted Moon as saying.

-- Brendan McGarry contributed to this report.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com.

Missile Defense Test Succeeds, Pentagon Says, Amid Tensions With North Korea

By HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER
New York Times
MAY 30, 2017

An interceptor rocket that is part of the United States’ ballistic missile defense program launched during a flight test from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday. Credit Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

WASHINGTON — A re-engineered American interceptor rocket collided with a mock intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday afternoon in the skies over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said, in the first successful test of whether it could shoot down a warhead from North Korea racing toward the continental United States at speeds approaching true battle conditions.

At a time when tensions with North Korea are running high, a successful test was vital for the Defense Department’s beleaguered missile defense program. It enabled the Pentagon to argue that it is making strides in protecting the United States from a North Korean nuclear warhead.

But even advocates of the program stop short of arguing that it can now provide a defensive shield; with Tuesday’s test, only five of the last 10 tests have been declared fully or partly successful in the 13 years since the system became operational.

The results of the test were being watched carefully, not only because a failure would have been a major setback, but also because a redesigned interceptor was put up against a dummy warhead that was speeding toward the United States at a velocity close to that of a real incoming missile.

The test “demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” said Vice Adm. James D. Syring, the director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, calling the test a “critical milestone for this program.”

But Defense Department officials provided no details, saying only that initial indications showed the test had met its primary objective by hitting the target and that the missile agency would evaluate other data to determine how the system performed over all.

The test was the first of a new “kill vehicle” that uses thrusters to aim directly at an incoming warhead. That is intended to solve a persistent technical problem blamed for many past misses.

So far, North Korea has not tested a missile that could reach the United States. But experts expect that moment in the next five years or so. To truly threaten the United States, North Korea would have to demonstrate that it has a missile that can reach the West Coast or farther inland, and it would have to learn how to shrink a nuclear warhead to fit atop an intercontinental missile and survive the stresses of re-entering the atmosphere.

But Pyongyang has also been working hard to overwhelm the defense systems that the Pentagon has placed in California, where the antimissile system was tested on Tuesday, and in Alaska. For instance, North Korea regularly practices firing salvos of missiles because the American system is designed to intercept only one or two incoming warheads at a time.

Analyses of recent North Korean flight tests and missiles paraded through the streets of Pyongyang suggest that the North may also be seeking to develop maneuverable warheads. Such a tactic, if successfully developed, would help warheads dodge antimissile interceptors.

For that reason, President Barack Obama ordered in 2014 that the traditional missile defenses be supplemented by a covert program intended to sabotage launches before they happen. That program includes electronic warfare attacks, but it is unclear how successful it has been. Experts say that a combination of that “left of launch” sabotage, so called because it comes before or just as a missile launches, and “right of launch” interception of airborne missiles, the kind practiced on Tuesday, represent the best chance of protecting the United States.

Efforts to test the country’s multibillion-dollar efforts at missile defense have had mixed results. A Pentagon report in January criticized the long-range system, saying that it “demonstrates a limited capability to defend the U.S. homeland from small numbers” of medium- and long-range missiles “launched from North Korea or Iran.”

In nine of the 17 tests of the system since 1999, the target missile was not destroyed, officials said. Critics of the system say the test record has not improved over time, as would be expected for a system that is maturing. And “the tests have still not been done under realistic conditions,” Laura Grego, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a blog post on Monday.

Ms. Grego and other scientists argue that only when the system is tested in a range of situations — such as at night, or when an adversary is using countermeasures — would the Defense Department be able to say that it works.

Tuesday’s test was launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Because the location was known and the approximate time of the launch was planned, the interceptor was ready — which might not be the case under real conditions.

The North Koreans recently test-fired a series of missiles based on a technology that would give the United States little warning of an attack. Their new missiles use solid fuels and can be launched in minutes. That makes the already daunting job of intercepting them far harder, given that the American antimissile system works best with early alerts from satellites that a launch is imminent.

These missiles, officials say, appear to be functional, unlike older missiles that kept exploding or falling into the sea. Recent major tests were clearly successful, teaching the North Koreans a lot about how to fire missiles into space and drop warheads on distant targets.

While the American missile defense test was not “timed specifically to the current tensions,” the North “remains a cause for concern,” Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Tuesday. “They’re expanding in the size and sophistication of their ballistic missile systems, from close range to intercontinental, and they continue to conduct test launches while also using dangerous rhetoric that suggests they want to strike the United States.”

In South Korea on Tuesday, President Moon Jae-in ordered an investigation into why the nation’s Defense Ministry had failed to inform him that four additional launchers for a contentious American missile-defense battery had been brought into the country.

The United States hurried to deploy the antimissile system, called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, in April despite protests from Mr. Moon, who was a presidential candidate at the time and demanded that the deployment be delayed until after the new government in Seoul reviewed whether it was in the country’s best interest.

On Monday, Pyongyang launched what South Korean officials called a Scud-type missile that flew 280 miles before falling into waters near Japan. Hours after the missile test, two American supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers conducted a drill over South Korea.

As a candidate, Mr. Moon had called for a parliamentary review of the Thaad system. Two interceptor-rocket launchers were first put in place in Seongju, 135 miles southeast of Seoul, during the April deployment, although a Thaad battery normally operates with six launchers. Mr. Moon had accused both Washington and the government of the impeached President Park Geun-hye of trying to make the Thaad deployment a fait accompli.

Since Mr. Moon’s election on May 10, he has not been as vocal about the Thaad deployment.

That changed on Tuesday, when he learned that the remaining four Thaad launchers had arrived in South Korea — although not put in place in Seongju — and that his office had not been notified.

“President Moon called it a great shock,” said his spokesman, Yoon Young-chan. “He ordered a probe on how the four launchers were brought into the country, whose decision it was and why it has not been made public to the people and why it has not been reported to the new government until now.”

Captain Davis responded that the Pentagon had been “very transparent” with South Korea about the deployment of the system.

Choe Sang-Hun contributed reporting from Seoul, South Korea, and William J. Broad from New York.

Ghanian Woman, Walking Into Canada From U.S., Dies of Hypothermia: Police

A body found near the Manitoba border was that of a Ghanian woman who died of possible hypothermia trying to walk into Canada, U.S. police said on Tuesday.

The Kittson County Sheriff's office said they discovered the woman's body on Friday near Noyes, Minnesota which is directly across from the Canadian border town of Emerson where asylum seekers had been crossing in recent months.

The county sheriff, in concert with U.S. border patrol, had been searching for a missing woman following a call the previous day, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. A preliminary autopsy indicated hypothermia as cause of death.

Police declined to give any information about who reported the 57-year-old woman missing.

Canada has seen a spike in refugee claims this year, with more than 2,000 people coming across the U.S. border illegally since January. Most of those border crossers had been living legally in the United States but say they left because they feared President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Michael Perry)

Pan-African Journal: Special Worldwide Radio Broadcast for Mon. May 29, 2017--Hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe

Listen to the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast special edition for Mon. May 29, 2017.

To hear a podcast of this episode just click on the website below:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2017/05/29/pan-african-journal-special-worldwide-radio-broadcast

The program is hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. This episode includes our regular PANW report with dispatches on the ongoing reflections centered around Africa Liberation Day which commemorated the 54th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU); gas production has resumed in the North African state of Tunisia amid an escalation in mass demonstrations; the security situation in Ivory Coast remains tenuous due to the recurrent unrest within the military; and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reported on its efforts to enhance socialism in that state on the Korean Peninsula.

In the second and third hour we rebroadcast a classic address delivered by Shirley Graham Du Bois at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1970.

Pan-African Journal: Special Worldwide Radio Broadcast for Sat. May 27, 2017--Hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe 

Listen the Sat. May 27, 2017 special edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

To hear the podcast of this episode just click on the following website:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2017/05/28/pan-african-journal-special-worldwide-radio-broadcast

The program airs initially from 8:30-11:30pm EDT and afterwards on podcast.

This episode include reports on Africa Liberation Day; Zambia; Guinea; and Egypt.

Other segments highlight the contributions of the African liberation struggle and Malcolm X.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Appears on RT World News: "Fighting Escalates Between Factions in Libya Capital of Tripoli"

To view this interview aired live over RT just go to the URL below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gqBMVw5t78&feature=youtu.be

Watch this RT worldwide satellite television network interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, on the upsurge in internecine clashes in the Libyan capital of Tripoli between factions supporting and opposing the United Nations imposed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Dozens have been killed and wounded in the fighting which stems directly from the destruction of the Libyan state under former leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi in a eight-month long Pentagon-CIA and NATO coordinated counter-revolutionary ground war and bombing campaign which killed 100,000 people and displaced several million.

Since 2011, Libya has been a source of instability for the entire areas of North and West Africa eventually extending across the Mediterranean to Europe.

The discussion aired live on Sat. May 27, 2017.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Interviewed on RT World News: "Pentagon and NATO Responsible for Instability in Libya and Egypt"

To view this interview just go to the following URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b6R0ZzO47E&feature=youtu.be

Watch this RT worldwide satellite television network interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, on the massacre of 28 Christians in the Minya province in Egypt and the subsequent airstrikes by the Egyptian Air Force on Derna in eastern Libya.

Azikiwe places culpability for the increasing instability and security crisis in North Africa to the United States and NATO destabilization of the region resulting from the imperialist war against the former government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The interview aired live on Fri. May 26, 2017.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Interviewed on Press TV Over the Political Situation in Egypt and Libya

To see a video of this broadcast just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/05/27/523338/Egypt-Libya-US-War

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire from Detroit, tells Press TV that Libya is still bearing the brunt of the Western foreign polices six years after NATO invaded the country and fueled the chaos there.

He says neighboring Egypt, which was hit by another deadly attack on Friday, is feeling the impact of the unrest in Libya.

Watch this Press TV interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, on the May 26, 2017 airstrikes by the Egyptian airforce against Derna, Libya in the aftermath of an attack on a bus filled with Coptics in the Minya province which killed 28 Christians and wounded many others.

Azikiwe reiterates that the deterioration of the security situation in Libya can be traced back to the Pentagon, CIA and NATO war of regime-change in 2011.

Additional clashes between rival rebel forces have also taken place in the capital of Tripoli.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Interviewed Over RT World News on the Links Between Manchester and Libya

Here is the link to the interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mUcYpShljc&feature=youtu.be

Watch this RT worldwide satellite television network interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, discussing the links between the suspects in the recent Manchester concert bombing and the United States-NATO coordinated rebels who fought to overthrow the Libyan government under former leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

Azikiwe notes the ease with which these groups are able to travel between Britain and Libya which remains a source of instability throughout North and West Africa. The interview was aired live on Thurs. May 25, 2017.

Keep the Flame of Freedom, Unity Alive

 Dr Sydney Sekeramayi
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail

On May 25 each year, we join the rest of Africa in celebrating our freedom, unity and identity as Africans.

On this day in 1963, our founding fathers gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia bound together by a shared vision and common purpose of creating a united, free and prosperous African continent.

Their determination and commitment to the cause of African unity transcended nationality, religion, the artificially imposed boundaries, language and culture. In the words of one of the finest sons of Africa, the late Kwame Nkrumah, “Africa is one continent and one people” and “we are not African because we were born in Africa but because Africa was born in us.”

This was the revolutionary spirit and solidarity that prevailed among our forebears in Addis Ababa in 1963, which was soon to come alive in the hearts and minds of all Africans wherever they were.  It was this same spirit that convinced our founders that if Africa was indeed one, it could not continue “half free and half slave”. In the words of the late President Nkrumah “The Independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”.

To this end, the Organisation of African Unity was born and charged with the responsibility to liberate our continent from colonial domination and exploitation. The continent at large owes its freedom to the vision, courage and wisdom of our founding fathers who made our fight for freedom and self-determination their fight.

We, in Zimbabwe, are privileged to be led by a statesman and icon of the liberation struggle, President Mugabe, who witnessed in person the formation of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963 and who, to this day, continues to inspire our nation and instil pan-Africanist values and ethos in our youths.

We owe a debt of gratitude to these valiant sons of Africa. The only way we can repay them for their sacrifices is for us to keep the flame of freedom and unity alive.

We must, as our founders did, put Africa first in all our endeavours. We must rekindle the spirit of togetherness, unity and solidarity among our people. We cannot afford to be divided. A united Africa will be able to withstand the negative forces of globalisation and neo-imperialism that are prevalent in our contemporary world.

We have come a long way since May 25, 1963. In this long and difficult journey, we continue to draw inspiration from the words of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who once said: “My generation led Africa to political freedom. The current generation of leaders and peoples of Africa must pick up the flickering torch of African freedom, refuel it with enthusiasm and determination and carry it forward.”

Our Heads of State and Government rose to this challenge in 2002 when they transformed the OAU into the African Union and refocused their efforts to imparting a fresh impetus into the struggle to eradicate poverty, conflict and disease from our continent.

Africa is on the rise. Africa’s new vision for political and economic emancipation, Agenda 2063, and its first 10-Year Implementation Plan is gaining traction everyday across our continent. Zimbabwe is proud to be associated with Agenda 2063, not only because of its clarity of purpose but also because of its national and historic significance.

It holds the key to Africa’s future development and to the achievement of self-sustaining growth. The successful implementation of Agenda 2063 demands that we strengthen our continental institutions if “the Africa we want” is to become a reality.

We need to revamp our working methods in order for the African Union to become more vibrant, efficient, focused and effective. It cannot be business as usual anymore in Addis Ababa.

The African Union Commission needs to be reformed for it to be fit for that purpose. This is why in June 2015, under the Chairmanship of President Mugabe, the African Union Assembly unanimously adopted the historic decision to reform the way we do business at the African Union.

We are happy to note that the reform agenda continues to gain momentum, this time under the wise leadership of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.  It is our hope that the newly-elected commission will spare no effort to ensure that these reforms are a resounding success so that the African Union can better deliver on its programmes.

Institutional reform alone will not deliver “the Africa we want”. The successful and timely implementation of the African Union blueprint, Agenda 2063, and its first 10-Year Plan demands that we resource our organisation in a sustainable and predictable manner. If we don’t, someone else will.

President Mugabe could not have put it in a better way when in his address to the African Union Assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015, he said: “Unless and until we can fund our own programmes, the African Union will not be truly our own.”

It was in this context that the African Union Assembly in Johannesburg took the historic decision to progressively increase Member States’ contributions so that in the next five years, the African Union would be able to finance 100 percent of its operational budget, 75 percent of its programme budget and 25 percent of its peacekeeping budget. But the monumental task of delivering on the promises of Agenda 2063 demands that we do much more.

We need to explore and develop new and innovative approaches of funding our Union. During Zimbabwe’s Chairmanship of the African Union, President Mugabe pledged a donation of 300 cattle to the African Union Foundation, then at its infancy. This exercise is nearing completion, with the proceeds from sales of the cattle soon going to be made available to the Foundation.

This humble gesture by the President is an example of what is possible if we apply our minds to the urgent need to find alternative ways to fund the Union.

In our quest to implement Agenda 2063, our women and our youths are our greatest asset. Unlike most parts of the world which are experiencing the phenomenon of an aging population, Africa has the fastest-growing and most youthful population in the world.

According to the African Development Bank, over 40 percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 15 years while 20 percent is between 15 and 24 years. Africa’s future and well-being, including the future of Agenda 2063, therefore, lies in the hands of our youths. But that future can only be certain and be on a firm footing if we, as a continent, take that conscious decision now to make the right investments in our youths.

This is why the Heads of State and Government of the African Union collectively decided to make “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through investing in Youths” the theme for 2017.  We look forward to participating in this important debate which will take place during the forthcoming Summit in July this year.

Peace and security are prerequisites for the success of Agenda 2063.  It is, therefore, imperative that we strengthen Africa’s peace and security architecture by, among other things, providing it with predictable and sustainable resources.

This is critical if we are to succeed in silencing the guns on our continent as envisaged in Agenda 2063 by the Year 2020.  We welcome the establishment of the Africa Peace Fund as a step in the right direction towards self-sufficiency.

We believe that African solutions to Africa’s problems are the guarantors of peace and stability to our continent. It would be remiss on my part to conclude without making reference to Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, that issue that continues to blemish Africa’s otherwise excellent record of achievements.

It is totally unacceptable that 54 years later following the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity, the people of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic remain under colonial bondage and are still to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

Our Union should uphold as sacrosanct the fundamental principles and values of our organisation as embodied in the Constitutive Act of the African Union. We should never condone colonialism irrespective of its origins and no matter who the coloniser may be.

If we do, our founding fathers will surely turn in their graves. As we celebrate this 54th Anniversary of our Union, let us pledge as Africans to redouble our efforts to ensure that the people of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic exercise their right to self-determination in an unfettered manner in accordance with the relevant AU and UN resolutions on this matter.

Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi made these remarks in his capacity as Acting Foreign Affairs Minister at the 54th Africa Day Celebrations in Harare last Thursday.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: From Fighting the System to Becoming the System

 ZIMBABWE SUNDAY MAIL REPORTER

LET’S face it — virtually all liberation movements have faced a lot of challenges in transforming themselves from fronting the war to running governments. After realising this challenge, leading liberation veterans, policy makers and experts in October 2012, organised a dialogue entitled “From Liberation Movement to Government: Past Legacies and the challenge of transition in Africa.”

This dialogue, which was hosted by the Brenthurst Foundation and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung was quite revealing. One of the presenters at this dialogue was Christopher Clapham, the editor of the Journal of Modern African Studies. His presentation was quite refreshing.

“Fighting a war is an enterprise with a single and readily identifiable goal, victory, to which all other considerations must be subordinated. This in turn calls for unity of purpose, and justifies total dedication on the part of the fighters, and a top-down structure of command and control on the part of the leadership.

“Running a government is not like that at all. There are multiple goals, which are often in some degree at odds with one another, and which call for a difficult process of agenda-setting and priority identification. Different interests will be involved, and will all demand a privileged say in helping to shape government policy, whether these are derived from their historic support for the struggle, or from their power within the political and economic structures that the government has inherited. There is no end point, like the moment at which the former fighters take over the government, when victory is achieved. As the years after liberation extend into decades, and the memory of that magic moment fades into the distance, so a further set of challenges emerge. Though the struggle remains a vivid source of legitimacy in the minds of former fighters, for most of the population whom they govern it becomes a rapidly wasting asset. The first and in many ways most basic challenge that the movement then faces is to retain as much as possible of the popular support that greeted it when it came to power, while coming to terms with the day-to-day demands of running an effective state, and with the need to work within constraints created especially by the global economy which were barely apparent during the struggle,” said Clapham at the dialogue.

Quite a long quote, but it illustrates the dilemma that liberation movements face as they seek to transform themselves from fighting the system to becoming the system. What makes the situation even worse for the liberation movements is that according to Peter Childs and Patrick Williams in their book, “An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory”, “…although colonial armies and bureaucracies might have withdrawn, Western powers were still intent on maintaining maximum indirect control over erstwhile colonies, via political, cultural and above all economic channels, a phenomenon which became known as neo-colonialism.”

Worse still, for some strange reasons, soon after winning political independence, liberation movements behaved as if the war was over. Their comradeship slowly died while on the other hand, the enemies they had defeated were regrouping and re-strategising on how to continue their hold on Africa, without openly provoking Africa.

After shelving true pan-Africanism for many years, liberation movements in Southern Africa a few weeks ago, realised that the enemy was relentless in his neo-colonial project. The liberation movements met in Angola and came up with resolutions that clearly indicate that finally, we seem to be going back to the good old Pan-African days.

The liberation movements came up with resolutions that include the crafting of tough disciplinary measures against errant party members, building ideological schools, coming up with innovative media and information strategies which make use of technological advancement, eliminating the use of money or other enticements in influencing outcomes of internal electoral processes, carrying out focused political orientation, creating mechanisms to share ideas, establish newspapers and radio stations and establishing meaningful presence on the internet. In addition, the liberation movements made resolutions to study weather patterns so as to align the agriculture season, eliminate corruption, hold workshops to share experiences and strategies on sustainable economic growth.

While resolutions are not enough as they are just intentions drafted on paper, at least the liberation movements showed that they were alive to the challenges confronting Southern Africa.

Of course, there is one anomaly among the resolutions because the liberation movements failed to come up with a direct resolution on revamping the education system in Africa which still has retrogressive residues from the colonial era. Zimbabwe, through the new education curricula has taken the lead in addressing this issue and other liberation movements should follow suit. The time has come for Africa to craft an education system that opens the people’s minds because as it stands, it looks like many in the continent don’t realise that Africa is under siege. Harriet Tubman once said: “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” Liberation movements should craft education policies that make Africans realise that the enemy is back through the front door preaching democracy, human rights and good governance. That way we may free more slaves.  The current education system is planting neo-colonial ideas in many people such that issues like democracy, human rights and good governance appear more important than the issues that led liberation movements to wage a war against the colonialists.

Amilcar Cabral was spot on when he said: “Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.” This is what Africa should plant in the minds of its populace because the liberation struggle was never about fighting “for ideas, for things in anyone’s head.”