US, South Korea extend nuclear agreement for 2 years

The U.S. and South Korea are extending for two years their current civilian nuclear agreement and postponing a contentious decision on whether Seoul will be allowed to reprocess spent fuel as it seeks to expand its atomic energy industry.

Wednesday's announcement is a setback to South Korea's new leader, Park Geun-hye, who had made revision of the 39-year-old treaty one of her top election pledges, but it alleviates a potential disagreement between the allies when Park visits Washington in two weeks to meet with President Obama.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the extension will provide more time for the two governments to complete the complex negotiations on a successor agreement that will recommence in June.

"These are very technical talks, and both parties felt that we needed more time," he told reporters.

South Korea is the world's fifth-largest nuclear energy producer and is planning to expand domestic use of nuclear power and exports of nuclear reactors. But its radioactive waste storage is filling up, so it wants to be able to reprocess spent plutonium. It also wants to be able enrich uranium, a process that uranium must undergo to become a viable nuclear fuel. Currently, South Korea has to get countries such as the U.S. and France to do enrichment for it.

Revising the agreement is a sensitive matter as the same technologies can also be used to develop nuclear weapons. Washington has historically opposed allowing reprocessing and enrichment by its nuclear partners so as to prevent proliferation of the technology. The issue has added sensitivity on the divided Korean Peninsula because of North Korea's active pursuit of such weapons and international demands it desist.

Victor Cha at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said the U.S. and South Korea had been deadlocked after two years of negotiations on a revised agreement and showing little inclination for compromise. Failure to extend the current agreement would have had a major impact on both the U.S. and South Korean nuclear industries, and would have been a blow to the Washington-Seoul alliance, he said.

"Punting the negotiations down the road for two years is advisable, benefits industry by creating some sense of predictability, and is politically neutral," Cha wrote in a commentary Wednesday.

The current agreement, last amended in 1974, expires in March 2014. Its renewal has to be submitted to Congress by this summer for approval.

South Korea is a staunch U.S. ally hosting American forces. The relationship was founded on strong security ties but expanded last year when a landmark free trade pact came into effect.

Park will visit the White House on May 7. She will also address a joint meeting of Congress.

View the original article here

Top U.S. general says tensions too high to leave Korea to testify on Capitol Hill

By Justin Fishel

Published April 07, 2013

FoxNews.com

• 

  FILE: Undated: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, (r.), with the Korean People's Army senior officers, preparing a satellite launch.AP

Gen. James Thurman, the head of U.S. Forces Korea, has delayed his planned visit to Capitol Hill this week due to heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Thurman was scheduled to begin testifying Tuesday before multiple Senate and House committees about the situation in which the totalitarian North Korean government has declare a “state of war” on neighboring South Korea.  Kim Jong Un -- North Korea’s new, young leader has also said he would restart nuclear reactors.

The United State earlier this month sent B-52 aircraft to South Korea as part of a training exercise and has moved a Navy ship capable of intercepting missiles to waters off the coast, signals from the White House that the U.S. wants to head off any potential conflict by flexing its military might. 

"Given the current situation, Gen. Thurman will remain in Seoul next week as a prudent measure," Col. Amy Hannah, a spokeswoman for the general, told Fox News on Sunday.

Hannah said the general has asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees and others to excuse his absence until he can testify at a later date.

“He looks forward to appearing before the committees at the earliest possible date," she also said.

View the original article here

US working diplomatic channels to resolve N. Korea standoff, amid shows of strength

• 

• • 

    Are current threats from North Korea different?

  • 

    US not taking any chances with North Korea

  • 

    US deploys advanced missile defense system to Pacific

As the Pentagon flies B-2 bombers over the Korean Peninsula and strengthens its missile-defense posture in the region, U.S. officials are steadily working the diplomatic channels around North Korea -- in a bid to dial down tensions before things get "hotter." 

Analysts largely consider the biggest threat from North Korea's daily provocations to be the possibility the regime could go too far in needling South Korea, prompting a military response that drags the U.S. and other allies into a broad conflict. Some have described that scenario as an "accidental" war -- meaning diplomacy is key in preventing that outcome. 

Newly minted Secretary of State John Kerry is dabbling in several agenda items including trying to unfreeze Middle East peace talks, but is planning a round of meetings with North Korea's neighbors next week. He's also held talks with South Korean and Chinese officials in recent days.

Analysts say urging South Korea to show restraint while urging China to pressure Pyongyang should be at the top of the agenda. 

The State Department confirmed Thursday that Kerry had a phone call on Wednesday with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi to discuss North Korea as well as Kerry's upcoming visit to the region. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said China's role in pressuring North Korea has been the subject of "intense conversations" between Kerry and his Chinese counterparts. 

She added: "It will be a central focus of the secretary's diplomacy when he's in Beijing, to see what more we can do to get the attention of the leadership in the DPRK." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. 

Kerry plans to visit Beijing on April 13 as part of a tour across the Middle East and Asia. He'll be in Seoul, South Korea, on April 12 and Tokyo, Japan, on April 14. 

Nuland described the visit as "very timely" and one that will give Kerry an "opportunity" to address North Korea's threats. Kerry earlier this week met with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se in Washington. 

The latest development out of North Korea has been indications the regime is moving its mid-range missile launchers -- possibly signaling a looming test. South Korea claimed the North moved a missile to the east coast, shortly after North Korea claimed the military had been cleared to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. 

The State Department has indicated it will not engage North Korea directly until it makes serious moves to come into compliance with international obligations. Kerry suggested Tuesday that U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies is ready to engage when North Korea gets "serious about trying to resolve this issue." 

Until then, North Korea's ally -- China -- is seen as perhaps the best avenue for affecting North Korea's behavior. Nuland said Thursday that the U.S. has enjoyed "good unity" with both China and Russia on North Korea, citing recent sanctions passed on the U.N. Security Council. 

Diplomacy may be getting a second look as a way to dial down tensions after the Obama administration reportedly hit pause on its high-profile show-of-force strategy.   

In recent days, the U.S. has flown B-52 and B-2 bombers, as well as F-22 jets, over the region. The Pentagon moved two guided-missile destroyers to waters off the Korean Peninsula, and is positioning other missile-defense assets in the region. 

But The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is pulling back on the demonstrations, out of concern that it could lead to "miscalculations" by the North Koreans. 

Nuland stressed Thursday that the brinkmanship can be walked back. 

"This does not need to get hotter," she said. "We can change course here if the DPRK will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will begin to cool things down." 

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. is in "close contact" with Seoul and Tokyo and is "regularly reaching out to Beijing and Moscow to encourage them to do more to restrain the North Koreans." 

He said it's "not a mystery" that China has influence over North Korea, and the U.S. is urging China to use that position to help change course. 

"That is also true of our interactions with the Russians," he said. "This is a broad diplomatic effort that includes coordination with our allies in Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as with China and Russia and others." 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday also called new Chinese Minister of National Defense General Chang Wanquan and discussed North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

Gordon Chang, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World," told Fox News it's important for the U.S. to "reassure" South Korea with the shows of strength. But he also urged more tough talk with China. 

Jim Walsh, an international security analyst and research associate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program, said the reassurances have to be "strong" but not so over the top "that the other side freaks out and does something stupid." 

He said the U.S. should continue talking to the Chinese and "trying to lower the temperature on this so people don't mess up."

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With North Korea warning of nuclear war, B-52s soar in 'Foal Eagle'

View the original article here

With North Korea warning of nuclear war, B-52s soar in 'Foal Eagle'

• 

  Nov. 20, 2012: A B-52 Stratofortress flies just under the sun after flying a routine sortie at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.U.S. Air Force / Andrew Crawford

• 

  April 20, 2011: U.S. Air Force aircrew assigned to the 23rd Bomb Squadron Minot Air Force Base N.D., pre-flight their B-52 Stratofortress aircraft before an 8hr sortie going over bomb dropping sequences and air refueling.USAF / Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin

• 

  March 26, 2012: A B-52 Stratofortress, from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., receives fuel from a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, from the 151st Air Fueling Wing, Utah Air National Guard.U.S. Air Force / Tech. Sgt. Dennis J. Henry Jr.

• 

  March 26, 2012: A B-52 Stratofortress, from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., receives fuel from a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, from the 151st Air Fueling Wing, Utah Air National Guard.U.S. Air Force / Tech. Sgt. Dennis J. Henry Jr.

• 

  The behemoth B-52 Stratofortress is the biggest bomber that the Air Force flies -- so big that it takes 32 airmen more than 12 hours to wash one.U.S. Air Force / by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung

Next Slide Previous Slide

With North Korea's bellicose rhetoric escalating by the day -- on Wednesday a spokesman said its military has been cleared to wage a nuclear attack -- the annual U.S. training exercise Foal Eagle continues just over the border.

Foal Eagle, which began March 1 and will run through April 30 in conjunction with South Korea, includes a nuclear attack submarine, F-22s and B-2 Stealth bombers, and the nuclear-capable B-52s Stratofortress, a veteran aircraft that can drop the largest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory.

The behemoth is the biggest bomber that the Air Force flies. It's so big that it takes 32 airmen more than 12 hours to wash one. The B-52 can do just about anything from nuclear weapon deployment to close air support.

And this American classic has been making headlines a lot lately.

Beyond the annual Foal Eagle training exercise, Americans across the nation were outraged when "The Amazing Race" used the wreckage of a B-52 shot down in Vietnam as a prop recently, asking contestants to sing communist songs. CBS later apologized for the insensitive show.

It's served the military well for more than half a century.

Inside an American classic
Capable of flying at altitudes of 50,000 feet, the aircraft has a 185-foot wingspan and is nearly 160 feet long. The long-range B-52 heavy bomber flies at subsonic speeds and provides a global strike capability.

Just how fast is that? Built by Boeing, this aircraft can fly at Mach 0.86–that’s 650 miles per hour.

Precision guided missiles, gravity and cluster bombs are just a few of the payloads the B-52 can deliver against targets – a single B-52 can launch a whopping 70,000 pounds of mixed ordnance.

The latest version, the B-52H, can carry up to 20 air-launched cruise missiles, or nuclear weapons for precision delivery anywhere in the world.

The aircraft plays other critical roles beyond attack such as providing critical surveillance and monitoring capabilities.

According to the Air Force, just two B-52s can monitor 140,000 square miles in a mere two hours - that’s like scanning an area larger than the size of Great Britain and Newfoundland combined.

The aircraft can be kitted out with electro-optical viewing sensor systems and forward-looking infrared.

Remarkably, the B-52 has unlimited combat range. The bomber can be refueled while in flight. A KC-135 Stratotanker, for example, can deploy to keep a mission going. Without refueling, it has a range of around 8,800 miles.

In 1989, modernizing updates began, incorporating GPS and adaptations to carry 2,000-pound munitions, according to the Air Force. Developing a full array of advance weapons is also underway.

New avionics, electronic defense and offensive systems, and more powerful engines updates will continue to enhance the aircraft’s utility.

Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory with aircraft assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command at the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB in North Dakota and the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.

B-52Hs are also assigned to Air Force Reserve Command's 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale.

Maintaining 50-year-young legends
Some of the B-52s are 50 years young -- meaning the dedication of crew chiefs and maintenance crews has been essential to maintaining this legendary aircraft.

After 450 hours or 24 months, the bomber’s parts are checked and rechecked. Subjected to a thorough intensive inspection, damaged pieces and key components are replaced.

Often 120 people will work around the clock.

These teams have ensured that the B-52s get airborne and return safely. They have kept the versatile aircraft in service for more than 60 years.

Proud Deployment History
Entering service in 1954, the B-52 Stratofortresses have been operating for nearly seventy years.

There are different models of the B-52: the B-52A first flew in 1954, and the B model entered service in 1955. Six years later in 1961, the first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command.

The B-52s delivered a whopping 40 percent of all the weapons dropped by all the coalition forces during Desert Storm, according to USAF statistics.

During Operation Enduring Freedom, they provided close air support through the use of precision-guided munitions.

In a single 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom night mission, the B-52Hs launched approximately 100 conventional air launched cruise missiles.

The Air Force regularly deploys the B-52s with a bomber program based in Guam.

Every year, the B-52s participate in a number of training exercises.

The Global Strike Challenge, for example, is an opportunity for teams 96th Bomb Squadron setting up a a B-52H, aerial refueling training, flying mission at the range and landing.

War week is another exercise where B-52s work on aerial refueling, weapons tactics and high altitude maneuvering.

In Red Flag, another exercise with longstanding US allies, attack, air superiority, defense suppression are practiced to improve rapidly standing up combat and cooperation with partners.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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View the original article here

US working diplomatic channels to resolve N. Korea standoff, amid shows of strength

• 

• • 

    Are current threats from North Korea different?

  • 

    US deploys advanced missile defense system to Pacific

  • 

    How dangerous is North Korea?

As the Pentagon flies B-2 bombers over the Korean Peninsula and strengthens its missile-defense posture in the region, U.S. officials are steadily working the diplomatic channels around North Korea -- in a bid to dial down tensions before things get "hotter." 

Analysts largely consider the biggest threat from North Korea's daily provocations to be the possibility the regime could go too far in needling South Korea, prompting a military response that drags the U.S. and other allies into a broad conflict. Some have described that scenario as an "accidental" war -- meaning diplomacy is key in preventing that outcome. 

Newly minted Secretary of State John Kerry is dabbling in several agenda items including trying to unfreeze Middle East peace talks, but is planning a round of meetings with North Korea's neighbors next week. He's also held talks with South Korean and Chinese officials in recent days.

Analysts say urging South Korea to show restraint while urging China to pressure Pyongyang should be at the top of the agenda. 

The State Department confirmed Thursday that Kerry had a phone call on Wednesday with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi to discuss North Korea as well as Kerry's upcoming visit to the region. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said China's role in pressuring North Korea has been the subject of "intense conversations" between Kerry and his Chinese counterparts. 

She added: "It will be a central focus of the secretary's diplomacy when he's in Beijing, to see what more we can do to get the attention of the leadership in the DPRK." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. 

Kerry plans to visit Beijing on April 13 as part of a tour across the Middle East and Asia. He'll be in Seoul, South Korea, on April 12 and Tokyo, Japan, on April 14. 

Nuland described the visit as "very timely" and one that will give Kerry an "opportunity" to address North Korea's threats. Kerry earlier this week met with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se in Washington. 

The latest development out of North Korea has been indications the regime is moving its mid-range missile launchers -- possibly signaling a looming test. South Korea claimed the North moved a missile to the east coast, shortly after North Korea claimed the military had been cleared to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. 

The State Department has indicated it will not engage North Korea directly until it makes serious moves to come into compliance with international obligations. Kerry suggested Tuesday that U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies is ready to engage when North Korea gets "serious about trying to resolve this issue." 

Until then, North Korea's ally -- China -- is seen as perhaps the best avenue for affecting North Korea's behavior. Nuland said Thursday that the U.S. has enjoyed "good unity" with both China and Russia on North Korea, citing recent sanctions passed on the U.N. Security Council. 

Diplomacy may be getting a second look as a way to dial down tensions after the Obama administration reportedly hit pause on its high-profile show-of-force strategy.   

In recent days, the U.S. has flown B-52 and B-2 bombers, as well as F-22 jets, over the region. The Pentagon moved two guided-missile destroyers to waters off the Korean Peninsula, and is positioning other missile-defense assets in the region. 

But The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is pulling back on the demonstrations, out of concern that it could lead to "miscalculations" by the North Koreans. 

Nuland stressed Thursday that the brinkmanship can be walked back. 

"This does not need to get hotter," she said. "We can change course here if the DPRK will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will begin to cool things down." 

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. is in "close contact" with Seoul and Tokyo and is "regularly reaching out to Beijing and Moscow to encourage them to do more to restrain the North Koreans." 

He said it's "not a mystery" that China has influence over North Korea, and the U.S. is urging China to use that position to help change course. 

"That is also true of our interactions with the Russians," he said. "This is a broad diplomatic effort that includes coordination with our allies in Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as with China and Russia and others." 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday also called new Chinese Minister of National Defense General Chang Wanquan and discussed North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

Gordon Chang, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World," told Fox News it's important for the U.S. to "reassure" South Korea with the shows of strength. But he also urged more tough talk with China. 

Jim Walsh, an international security analyst and research associate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program, said the reassurances have to be "strong" but not so over the top "that the other side freaks out and does something stupid." 

He said the U.S. should continue talking to the Chinese and "trying to lower the temperature on this so people don't mess up."

View the original article here

Hagel calls N. Korea 'real and clear danger,' as US plans defense system in Guam

• 

• • 

    How dangerous is North Korea?

  • 

    Bias Bash: Media serious enough on N. Korea threat coverage?

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that North Korea's rising threats pose a "real and clear danger," as the Pentagon continued to take precautions with a plan to deploy a missile-defense system to Guam. 

A senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the military will deploy an Army system shown as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Guam. The system is capable of shooting down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. 

This follows the positioning of two U.S. destroyer ships in the region, along with plans to have two sea-based radar systems in the western Pacific. 

Hagel, speaking Wednesday at the National Defense University, said the cascade of threats out of North Korea must be taken "seriously," given the country's nuclear and missile-delivery capacity -- though analysts say the country still could not fire a nuclear-tipped missile all the way to the continental United States. 

"As they have ratcheted up (their) bellicose, dangerous rhetoric -- and some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests, certainly of our allies, starting with South Korea and Japan," Hagel said. He also cited the "threats that the North Koreans have leveled directly at the United States regarding our base in Guam, threatened Hawaii, threatened to the West Coast of the United States." 

The Kim Jong Un regime has toggled in recent weeks between threatening the U.S. and threatening South Korea. 

The latest development was North Korea reportedly announcing it had "ratified" a strike plan against the United States. Also Wednesday, it decided to bar South Korean managers and trucks delivering supplies from crossing the border to enter a jointly run factory park called Kaesong. 

The Kaesong industrial park started producing goods in 2004 and has been an unusual point of cooperation in an otherwise hostile relationship between the Koreas, whose three-year war ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. 

The Kaesong move came a day after the North said it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and a uranium enrichment plant. Both could produce fuel for nuclear weapons that North Korea is developing and has threatened to hurl at the U.S., something experts don't think it will be able to accomplish for years. 

The North's rising rhetoric has been met by a display of U.S. military strength, including flights of nuclear-capable bombers and stealth jets at annual South Korean-U.S. military drills that the allies call routine and North Korea says are invasion preparations. 

In a telephone call Tuesday evening to Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan, Hagel cited North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and said Washington and Beijing should continue to cooperate on those problems. 

"The secretary emphasized the growing threat to the U.S. and our allies posed by North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and expressed to General Chang the importance of sustained U.S.-China dialogue and cooperation on these issues," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement describing the phone call. 

Little also disclosed that Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit China later this month. It would be Dempsey's first trip to China as head of the Joint Chiefs. 

Hagel also invited the Chinese defense minister to visit the United States this year. 

Fox News' Justin Fishel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

North Korea warns military cleared to wage nuclear attack against US

• 

  April 3, 2013: South Korean Marines pass by K-55 self-propelled howitzers during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea.AP

An unnamed spokesman for the North Korean army is warning the U.S. that its military has been cleared to wage an attack using "smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear" weapons in the latest of the country's escalating warnings. 

North Korea has railed for weeks against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened sanctions for a February nuclear test.

The spokesman said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency that troops have been authorized to counter U.S. aggression with "powerful practical military counteractions."

National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden called the threats "unhelpful and unconstructive."

"It is yet another offering in a long line of provocative statements that only serve to further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community and undermine its goal of economic development," she said. "North Korea should stop its provocative threats and instead concentrate on abiding by its international obligations."

The Pentagon said Wednesday it was deploying a missile defense shield to Guam to protect the U.S. and its allies in the region in response to the increasingly hostile rhetoric. 

The land-based missile defense system includes a truck-mounted launcher, tracking radar, interceptor missiles, and an integrated fire control system. The Pentagon said the system will boost defenses for American citizens in Guam, a U.S. territory, and U.S. forces stationed there.

On Wednesday, North Korea barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North.

The Kaesong industrial park started producing goods in 2004 and has been an unusual point of cooperation in an otherwise hostile relationship between the Koreas, whose three-year war ended in 1953 with an armistice. Its continued operation even through past episodes of high tension has reassured foreign multinationals that another Korean War is unlikely and their investments in prosperous dynamic South Korea are safe.

It is unclear how long North Korea will prevent South Koreans from entering the industrial park, which is located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong and provides jobs for more than 50,000 North Koreans. The last major disruption at the park amid tensions over U.S.-South Korean military drills in 2009 lasted just three days.

North Korea has already begun construction at a shuttered plutonium reactor that it is vowing to restart and it could be back in operation sooner than expected, a U.S. research institute said Wednesday.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies has analyzed recent commercial satellite imagery of the Nyongbyon nuclear facility, where the reactor was shut down in 2007 under the terms of a disarmament agreement. A cooling tower for the reactor was destroyed in 2008.

The analysis published on the institute's website "38 North" says that rebuilding the tower would take six months, but a March 27 photo shows building work may have started for an alternative cooling system that could take just weeks.

"Pyongyang may be poised to prove wrong conventional wisdom that it will take months to restart its reactor, and in the bargain it is also showing us that they mean business by accelerating the process of producing more material for nuclear weapons," said Joel Wit, 38 North editor and a former U.S. State Department official.

North Korea also said it would restart a uranium enrichment plant. Both facilities could produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

The new construction at the reactor began in the six weeks between February 7 and March 27, when another aerial image showed no building going on, 38 North says.

The analysis says the construction could be aimed at connecting the reactor to a pumping station that serves an adjacent light-water reactor that is still under construction. The light-water reactor still appears more than a year away from becoming operational but its pumping station appears from aerial imagery to be complete, it says.

But restarting the plutonium reactor would also depend on the availability of fresh fuel rods. According to 38 North, North Korea is believed to have a supply of rods, but many of them may need adapting for use in the reactor.

The North's plutonium reactor began operations in 1986 but was shut down as part of international nuclear disarmament talks in 2007 that have since stalled. Once it is up and running, the reactor is capable of producing six kilograms of plutonium a year -- enough for one or two bombs, the analysis says.

The North has already conducted three underground nuclear tests. Plans to restart the reactor and ramp up production of atomic material underscore worries about its progress in developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could target the United States. It is still believed to be years away from achieving that.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

View the original article here

This time, things could be very, very different with North Korea

• 

• • 

    Should US fear North Korea's nuclear threat?

  • 

    US commander: North Korea situation 'tense' and 'volatile'

  • 

    White House responds to North Korea's recent nuke threats

The rites of spring are: daylight savings time... cherry blossoms and daffodils… and another North Korean military crisis.

Every year, come spring, the North Korean people run low on their stocks of food, fuel and fear. 

Their leaders manage the situation by manufacturing a crisis. They threaten war, their people forget about hardships to rally round the flag, and the world trembles. 

Everyone agrees to consultations, the North Koreans get assistance, and the crisis is averted….until the same time next year. 

The annual North Korean display of braggadocio and brinksmanship is so predictable you can practically set your iCalendar to auto-renew.

But this year, things could well be different, and events could spiral out of control quickly, and fatally.

Kim Jong Un has shown he’s so reckless he shouldn’t even be allowed to play with matches, yet he is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons.

First, this year all the major players in the game are new. The new twenty-something North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has little experience in crisis management outside of his beloved video games. 

The new leaders in South Korea, Japan and China have been in office for a scant few weeks, and all are thought to be hawkish on defense issues. 

The new Secretaries of State and Defense have their hands full with the Middle East, Afghanistan and defense cuts. 

The situation in the Korean Peninsula is at a hair trigger, and a slight miscalculation on the part of any of these players could lead to a rapid unraveling.

Second, North Korea is now, in effect, a nuclear weapons state and it has emboldened them. North Korea has successfully tested nuclear weapons, probably of both the plutonium and highly enriched uranium varieties. While they don’t yet have missiles capable of reaching the Continental U.S., nor nuclear weapons small enough to fit on the tip of those missiles, it’s only a matter of time before they do. 

Kim Jong Un has shown he’s so reckless he shouldn’t even be allowed to play with matches, yet he is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons. The closer he is to having those weapons, the further away he will be from backing down in a crisis. 

One thing recent history has shown, countries with nuclear weapons don’t get attacked (Pakistan). Countries which give up their nuclear weapons do (Libya and Iraq). 

Kim may be young and inexperienced but he’s probably figured out that lesson.

Third, the US has stationed nearly 30,000 troops on the Korean border since the 1950’s to serve as a tripwire for any North Korean aggression. The message to North Korea is, “you want to mess with South Korea? You’ve got to get past us first.” 

This has deterred North Korean adventurism and kept the peace for over 50 years. But as technology has advanced, it has made for a hair-triggered tripwire. 

The Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas is about the width of New York’s Central Park. A North Korean missile can reach South Korea’s capital in about a minute. Seoul’s sprawling suburbs are nearly at the North Korean border. If someone does miscalculate, the situation would escalate within hours.

That’s the bad news. 

The good news is the Obama administration is taking the threat seriously. So far, they’ve walked the fine line between demonstrating our resolve and not fanning the flames. 

They’ve showed our South Korean and Japanese allies that we stand with them, by continuing with the planned military exercises with some of America’s most advanced weapons. 

They’re putting missile defense systems in place of the Korean coast. But they’ve not traded tit-for-tat in response to Kim Jong Un’s extreme sabre rattling.

Whether this crisis gets resolved short of war depends greatly on China’s willingness and ability to rein in North Korea. In the past China has been content to let the situation in Northeast Asia stay at a low boil to keep the South Koreans, the Japanese and Americans off balance. But the situation now threatens to boil over. The calculation for China has changed.

If North Korea continues down this road, Japan could rearm and South Korea decide to go nuclear, especially if they sense a lessening of America’s mutual defense commitment.

If the North Korean regime collapses, millions of poor and malnourished refugees would stream across the border into China stressing an already stressed Chinese economy. China’s recent mobilization at the North Korea border is as much to keep those refugees out as a show of solidarity with North Korea.

If a weakened North Korea unites with South Korea to form the East Asian equivalent of a United Germany – economically powerful, but with a strong, possibility nuclear capable military – would be China’s worst nightmare. 

For the first time, China has real incentives for resolving the annual North Korean crisis. There are indications at the United Nations and elsewhere that China is losing patience with North Korea.

It is time for the U.S. and China to reopen a strategic dialogue to deal with a host of issues, especially how to deal with North Korea. 

Mao once told my former boss Henry Kissinger, that without the lips the teeth grow cold. He meant that North Korea provided a buffer for Japan and South Korea. Those teeth would grow very cold indeed if the annual Korean crisis is not resolved peacefully.

Even so, no one knows how this will turn out. 

North Korea remains the most impenetrable country on the planet, and Kim Jong Un is an inscrutable leader. Know what makes this even scarier? The person who probably has spent more time with Kim and knows him best is his courtside basketball buddy Dennis Rodman.

Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland is a Fox News National Security Analyst and host of FoxNews.com's "DefCon 3." She is a Distinguished Adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She wrote Secretary of Defense Weinberger’s November 1984 "Principles of War Speech" which laid out the Weinberger Doctrine. Be sure to watch "K.T." every Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET on FoxNews.com's "

K.T. McFarland

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What kind of attack could North Korea launch?

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    North Korea threatens to 'settle accounts with the US'

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    Stealth bombers deployed over South Korea

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's latest threat to "settle accounts with the U.S." -- while displaying a "strike plan" that shows missiles tracking toward American cities -- was widely seen as another example of the young leader's erratic bluster. 

The threat to lob long-range nuclear-tipped missiles at central U.S. cities is, in the opinion of most expert observers, overblown. But while making progress on its missile capability, the regime has other ways to wreak havoc, and this is what has officials and analysts increasingly worried. 

"You only need to be wrong once," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said, in discussing assessments of North Korea. "I don't know what president or what chairman or what secretary of Defense wants to be wrong once when it comes to nuclear threats." 

Officials are concerned that with the rising threats, Kim is backing his regime into a corner where it may be compelled to act in order to save face. And in the near-term, the regime has plenty of ways to do that. 

It can continue to proliferate dangerous weapons to places like Iran and Syria. And, as it has repeatedly demonstrated, the regime can attack and provoke South Korea -- the scenario many are worried about. 

"We're one dead fisherman away from something that could escalate quite quickly," said Jim Walsh, an international security expert and research associate at MIT. "That's the one I worry about." 

Walsh said despite the rhetoric, the "war fundamentals" have not changed. North Korea would be obliterated by South Korea in the event of a war, with or without U.S. military support -- and the North Koreans know that. 

But he said the "accidental war" -- the provocation that goes too far and spirals into all-out conflict -- is the real worry. 

"The whole system is set up like a deck of cards right now," Walsh said. 

North Korea is infamous for testing and prodding South Korea. In 2010, under the current leader's late father Kim Jong Il, North Korea was blamed for sinking a South Korean ship and killing 46 sailors, though North Korea denied it. That time, there were no serious repercussions for the North.   

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggested South Korea's new president, Park Geun-hye, would not let such an attack slide. 

"If that were to happen again or something like it, I believe it could lead to war," O'Hanlon said. 

Walsh said that while North Korea would fall, in the best-case scenario "you still get ... 1,000 artillery shells landing on Seoul." 

O'Hanlon described a scenario where South Korea retaliates and North Korea escalates -- and eventually the U.S. would be faced with the question of how to get involved militarily. 

Hagel said Thursday that the U.S. "will unequivocally defend and we are unequivocally committed to that alliance with South Korea." 

Back in 1984, the U.S. prepared a campaign plan that would have made possible the destruction of the entire North Korean air force in 100 hours. Retired U.S. Air Force generals say the military could do it even faster today. 

The Pentagon made clear this week that it is taking the threat seriously. It flew B-2 bombers 13,000 miles to a South Korean island where they dropped inert bombs. It is the first time the U.S. has ever sent B-2 bombers to the Korean Peninsula. A tweet from the U.S. embassy in Seoul said the bombers were "demonstrating the US's ability to conduct precision strikes at will." 

Christian Whiton, a former State Department official now with the D.C. International Advisory, told Fox News that the major threat from North Korea is that "it's proliferated virtually every weapon system it's ever produced." 

"There's a real threat that North Korea will continue to do what it does best, which is to profit off of proliferating the world's most dangerous weapons to some of the world's most odious people," he said.  

Despite repeated nuclear and missile tests, it is believed North Korea is still years away from being able hit the U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile. 

The Council on Foreign Relations projects that only North Korea's Taepodong-2 missile could reach America. But that missile could only go as far as Alaska and has not yet been successfully tested. Its other rockets have a considerably shorter range. 

While having made progress in their ballistic missile program, the North Koreans still have not mastered the technology of delivering a nuclear device by a long-range missile. 

"If they ever do it, it's going to be a while," Walsh said of any effort to develop a missile capable of hitting the continental U.S. 

Walsh also said it's unlikely North Korea would ever send out a suicide bomber -- equipped with a radioactive "dirty bomb" or some similar device -- describing the move as too risky without much payoff for Pyongyang.   

FoxNews.com's Judson Berger and Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

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N. Korea orders rocket prep after US deploys B-2 stealth bombers over S. Korea

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    US flies B-2 bombers over South Korea

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    US deploys B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea

The U.S. military announced Thursday that two B-2 stealth bombers were sent to South Korea to participate in a training exercise, demonstrating the Pentagon's commitment to defend its ally against threats from North Korea.

The two B-2 Spirit bombers flew more than 6,500 miles from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to South Korea, dropping inert munitions before returning to the U.S., according to a statement released by U.S. Forces Korea.

"The United States is steadfast in its alliance commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea, to deterring aggression, and to ensuring peace and stability in the region," the statement said.

The B-2 Spirit is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons. The Pentagon said the mission was part of its ongoing Foal Eagle training exercise series, which began March 1 and ends April 30.

The exercise was announced a day after North Korea said it had shut down a key military hotline usually used to arrange passage for workers and goods through the Demilitarized Zone.

The hotline shutdown follows a torrent of bellicose rhetoric in recent weeks from North Korea, which is angry about annual South Korea-U.S. military drills and U.N. sanctions over its nuclear test last month. North Korea calls the drills rehearsal for an invasion; Seoul and Washington say the training is defensive in nature and that they have no intention of attacking.

North Korea's threats and provocations are seen as efforts to provoke the new government in Seoul, led by President Park Geun-hye, to change its policies toward Pyongyang. North Korea's moves at home to order troops into "combat readiness" are seen as ways to build domestic unity as young leader Kim Jong Un strengthens his military credentials.

North Korea previously cut Red Cross phone and fax hotlines with South Korea, and another communication channel with the U.S.-led U.N. command at the border between the Koreas. Three other telephone hotlines used only to exchange information about air traffic were still operating normally Thursday, according to South Korea's Air Traffic Center.

North Korea said there was no need for communication between the countries in a situation "where a war may break out at any moment."

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters that North Korea's "latest threat to cut off communication links coupled with its provocative rhetoric is not constructive to ensuring peace and stability on the peninsula."

Although North Korea has vowed nuclear strikes on the U.S., analysts outside the country have seen no proof that North Korean scientists have yet mastered the technology needed to build a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a missile.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Amid increased rhetoric from North Korea, combat ship USS Freedom debuts in Pacific

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    Next-gen battleship joining the Pacific fleet

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    US flies B-2 bombers over South Korea

A fast, maneuverable surface warrior, the Navy's first littoral combat ship USS Freedom has joined the 7th Fleet in the Pacific.

Its arrival coincides with further heavy rhetoric from North Korea. News agency KCNA carried the government’s message Wednesday that it had ordered artillery and rocket units into "combat posture" to prepare to target U.S. bases in the United States mainland, Hawaii and Guam.

On its maiden deployment, USS Freedom arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AOR) on March 20 -- a zone that covers more than 48 million square miles, stretching west from the International Date Line to the western coast of India. At any given moment, about 100 ships and submarines are deployed there and assigned to 7th Fleet.

On March 15, the fleet marked the 70th anniversary of its maintaining security and stability in the region.

While North Korea is not thought to have ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, it is capable of striking U.S. bases in the region, including Guam, where Freedom will be visiting.

The ship will participate in some large scale training exercises in Southeast Asia, involving maritime security operations with regional partners.

North Korea, meanwhile, has been carrying out its own large-scale military exercises.

Surface and anti-submarine warfare ready
Designed and developed by Lockheed Martin, the littoral combat ship (coastal and shallow water areas are called “littoral”) is quick and agile, and loaded with mission packages that can be configured for surface warfare, countering sea mines and anti-submarine warfare.

'As the U.S. Navy supports the U.S. government rebalance to the Indo-Asia-Pacific, there is no better place to demonstrate LCS capabilities.'

- Vice Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet

Led by Cmdr. Timothy Wilke, Freedom will initially be manned by her crew of 91 sailors, who include mission package personnel and an aviation detachment to operate its MH-60 helicopter.

Freedom can provide critical access and dominance in coastal water battlespaces.

As designed, Freedom can operate with substantially fewer crew, requiring only 40 core sailors plus support crew for the aviation and mission packages.

Should a battle erupt, Freedom can act as a hub to tie together sea, air and land assets.

COMBATTS-21 Combat Systems
The ship’s battle management system, also produced by Lockheed Martin, provides a flexible, next-generation defense system that can be reconfigured for a specific threat in days.

COMBATSS-21 is a self-defense suite and integrates the radar, electro-optical infrared cameras, gunfire control system, countermeasures and short-range anti-air missiles, as well as a variety of missile and torpedo systems, naval guns and more.

Let's say the mission required weapons systems to defeat enemy subs. An anti-submarine package would include an MH-60 Romeo carrying an active dipping sonar, sonobuoys and heavy-weight torpedoes.

What if the enemy had littered the coastal waters with mines? Freedom’s countermeasures package can search twice as quickly as earlier systems. It requires only two operators and would include tech like the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle and Raytheon’s airborne SONAR mine countermeasure detection system, AQS-20A.

Remember the USS Cole incident where American lives were lost? Small boats continue to be an ongoing threat.

To protect the fleet from this sort of asymmetric warfare, Freedom’s tech could include the Gun Mission Module MK 50 MOD, a Non-Line of Sight Launch System Mission Module, a MH-60R helicopter and vertical takeoff drones.

Led by prime contractor Lockheed Martin, the team includes naval architect Gibbs & Cox and ship builder Marinette Marine Corporation.

USS Fort Worth, the team’s second littoral combat ship, was delivered two months early last year and included improved fuel efficiency and speed, reduced weight, improved satellite and launch, recovery and handling systems and landing aids with advanced night vision capability.

The next two ships, the Milwaukee and the Detroit, are currently under construction.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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N. Korea puts artillery forces at top combat posture in latest threat on S. Korea, US

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SEOUL, South Korea –  North Korea's military warned Tuesday that its artillery and rocket forces are at their highest-level combat posture in the latest in a string of bellicose threats aimed at South Korea and the United States.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said it hasn't seen any suspicious North Korean military activity and that officials were analyzing the North's warning. Analysts say a direct North Korean attack is extremely unlikely, especially during joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that end April 30, though there's some worry about a provocation after the training wraps up.

The rival Koreas have had several bloody naval skirmishes in disputed Yellow Sea waters since 1999. In November 2010, a North Korean artillery strike on a South Korean island killed two marines and two civilians. A suspected North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship earlier that same year, killing 46 South Korean sailors. North Korea denies the warship sinking.

North Korea, angry over routine U.S.-South Korean drills and recent U.N. sanctions punishing it for its Feb. 12 nuclear test, has vowed to launch a nuclear strike against the United States and repeated its nearly two-decade-old threat to reduce Seoul to a "sea of fire." Despite the rhetoric, outside weapons analysts have seen no proof that North Korea has mastered the technology needed to build a warhead small enough to mount on a missile.

On Tuesday, the North Korean army's Supreme Command said it will take "practical military action" to protect national sovereignty and its leadership in response to what it called U.S. and South Korean plots to attack.

The statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, cited the participation of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers in South Korea-U.S. drills.

North Korea's field artillery forces — including strategic rocket and long-range artillery units that are "assigned to strike bases of the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops in the U.S. mainland and on Hawaii and Guam and other operational zones in the Pacific as well as all the enemy targets in South Korea and its vicinity" — will be placed on "the highest alert from this moment," the statement said.

The North's recent threats are seen partly as efforts to strengthen internal loyalty to young leader Kim Jong Un and to build up his military credentials.

Kim "needs to show he has the guts. The best way to do that is to use the military might that he commands," said Lee Yoon-gyu, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University in Seoul. "This paves the way for greater praise for him if North Korea makes a provocation later and claims victory."

Kim will eventually be compelled to do "something provocative to prove the threats weren't empty," Lee said.

Tuesday is the third anniversary of the warship sinking, and new South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged the North again to abandon its nuclear weapons program. "Focusing its national strength on the development of nuclear weapons while its people are suffering starvation ... will only bring international isolation to themselves," Park said in a televised speech at a national cemetery south of Seoul where the 46 sailors are buried.

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North Korea training teams of 'cyber warriors,' experts say

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  March 21, 2013: South Korean computer researchers, left, check the computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) as a South Korean police officer from Digital Forensic Investigation watches at the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea.AP

SEOUL, South Korea –  Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses, officials said. The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack, and on Friday said the malware was traced to a Seoul computer. But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cyber security command center in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications. The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1,190 per person in 2011 -- just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

But over the past several years, North Korea has poured money and resources into science and technology. In December, scientists succeeded in launching a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket from its own soil. And in February, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, its third.

"IT" has become a buzzword in North Korea, which has developed its own operating system called Red Star. The regime also encouraged a passion for gadgets among its elite, introducing a Chinese-made tablet computer for the North Korean market. Teams of developers came up with software for everything from composing music to learning how to cook.

But South Korea and the U.S. believe North Korea also has thousands of hackers trained by the state to carry its warfare into cyberspace, and that their cyber offensive skills are as good as or better than their counterparts in China and South Korea.

"The newest addition to the North Korean asymmetric arsenal is a growing cyber warfare capability," James Thurman, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, told U.S. legislators in March 2012. "North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber-infiltration and cyber-attacks" against South Korea and the U.S.

In 2010, Won Sei-hoon, then chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, put the number of professional hackers in North Korea's cyber warfare unit at 1,000.

North Korean students are recruited to the nation's top science schools to become "cyber warriors," said Kim Heung-kwang, who said he trained future hackers at a university in the industrial North Korean city of Hamhung for two decades before defecting in 2003. He said future hackers also are sent to study abroad in China and Russia.

In 2009, then-leader Kim Jong Il ordered Pyongyang's "cyber command" expanded to 3,000 hackers, he said, citing a North Korean government document that he said he obtained that year. The veracity of the document could not be independently confirmed.

Kim Heung-kwang, who has lived in Seoul since 2004, speculated that more have been recruited since then, and said some are based in China to infiltrate networks abroad.

What is clear is that "North Korea has a capacity to send malware to personal computers, servers or networks and to launch DDOS-type attacks," he said. "Their targets are the United States and South Korea."

Expanding its warfare into cyberspace by developing malicious computer codes is cheaper and faster for North Korean than building nuclear devices or other weapons of mass destructions. The online world allows for anonymity because it is easy to fabricate IP addresses and destroy the evidence leading back to the hackers, according to C. Matthew Curtin, founder of Interhack Corp.

Thurman said cyberattacks are "ideal" for North Korea because they can take place relatively anonymously. He said cyberattacks have been waged against military, governmental, educational and commercial institutions.

North Korean officials have not acknowledged allegations that computer experts are trained as hackers, and have refuted many of the cyberattack accusations. Pyongyang has not commented on the most recent widespread attack in South Korea.

In June 2012, a seven-month investigation into a hacking incident that disabled news production system at the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo led to North Korea's government telecommunications center, South Korean officials said.

In South Korea, the economy, commerce and every aspect of daily life is deeply dependent on the Internet, making it ripe grounds for a disruptive cyberattack.

In North Korea, in contrast, is just now getting online. Businesses are starting to use online banking services and debit cards have grown in popularity. But only a sliver of the population has access to the global Internet, meaning an Internet outage last week -- which Pyongyang blamed on hackers from Seoul and Washington -- had little bearing on most North Koreans.

"North Korea has nothing to lose in a cyber battle," said Kim Seeongjoo, a professor at Seoul-based Korea University's Department of Cyber Defense. "Even if North Korea turns out to be the attacker behind the broadcasters' hacking, there is no target for South Korean retaliation."

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South Korea misidentifies China as origin of cyberattacks

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  March 20, 2013: A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, while the bank's computer networks are paralyzed.AP

NEW YORK –  South Korean investigators said Friday they had mistakenly identified a Chinese Internet address as the source of a cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at banks and broadcasters earlier this week. But they said they still believe the attack originated from abroad.

The error by South Korean regulators raises questions about their ability to track down the source of an attack that hit 32,000 computers at six companies Wednesday and exposed South Korea's Internet security and vulnerability to hackers.

South Korean investigators said Thursday that a malicious code that spread through the server of one target, Nonghyup Bank, was traced to an Internet Protocol address in China. Even then it was clear that the attack could have originated somewhere else, because such data can easily be manipulated by hackers. Experts suspect North Korea was behind the attack.

The state-run Korea Communications Commission said Friday that the IP address actually belonged to a computer at the bank. The IP address was used only for the company's internal network and was identical to a public Chinese address.

"We were careless in our efforts to double-check and triple-check," KCC official Lee Seung-won told reporters. "We will now make announcements only if our evidence is certain."

Commission officials said an analysis of malware and servers indicates the attack was likely orchestrated from abroad. They didn't elaborate.

Yonhap news agency, in an analysis Friday, called the blunder "ridiculous" and said the announcement is certain to undermine the government's credibility.

Experts in Seoul suspect North Korea in the attack on broadcasters YTN, MBC and KBS, as well as Nonghyup and two other banks. Seoul alleges six cyberattacks by North Korea on South Korean targets since 2009. But the investigation will take weeks, and officials say they have no proof yet of Pyongyang's involvement.

South Korean officials say that Wednesday's attacks appeared to come from "a single organization" but they have yet to assign blame. North Korea hasn't yet mentioned the shutdown.

South Korea has set up a team of computer security experts from the government, military and private sector since to identify the hackers and is preparing to deal with more possible attacks, presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung told reporters earlier Friday. He didn't elaborate on the possibility of more attacks.

Determining who's behind a digital attack is often difficult. But North Korea is a leading suspect for several reasons.

It has unleashed a torrent of threats against Seoul and Washington since punishing U.N. sanctions were imposed for Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. It calls ongoing routine U.S.-South Korean military drills a threat to its existence. Pyongyang also threatened revenge after blaming Seoul and Washington for a separate Internet shutdown that disrupted its own network last week.

The cyberattack did not affect South Korea's government, military or infrastructure, and there were no initial reports that customers' bank records were compromised. But it disabled cash machines and disrupted commerce in this tech-savvy, Internet-dependent country.

All three of the banks that were hit were back online and operating regularly Friday. It could be next week before the broadcasters' systems have fully recovered, though they said their programming was never affected.

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