School massacre state backs gun law

4 April 2013 Last updated at 04:29 ET

The state legislature in Connecticut has approved gun control measures which campaigners say are the most comprehensive in America.

The sweeping new restrictions include a ban on new high-capacity magazines and background checks on all gun buyers.

President Barack Obama and gun control advocates say the measures are needed to curb an epidemic of gun violence.

In December a gunman in Newtown, Connecticut killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a primary school.

Gun rights groups argue the legislation - which was approved by both the senate and lower house in Connecticut - would not have prevented the Newtown school shooting.

The state's assembly passed the legislation after more than 13 hours of debate.

In Washington, the US Congress is set to debate new gun control legislation this month.

President's visit

Gun control in Connecticut became a predominant political issue after 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School with a high-powered rifle legally purchased by his mother - whom he also killed.

The killings also reignited national debate on gun control, and led to President Obama making gun safety one of the defining issues of his second term, which started a month after the shooting.

The president plans to visit the state on Monday as his proposed gun control measures in Congress appear to have stalled. Correspondents say he will use it to increase pressure on lawmakers in Washington.

The measures passed by Connecticut on Thursday include:

• an expansion of the state's assault weapons ban
• background checks for all prospective firearms purchasers, including in private transactions
• a ban on the sale or purchase of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds
• a registry of weapons offenders
• a state eligibility certificate to purchase a rifle or shotgun that involves a psychiatric commitment check

"This is a new and historic model for the country on an issue that has typically been the most controversial and divisive," Connecticut Senate President Donald Williams was quoted by local media as saying at the end of a six-hour debate in the lower house on Thursday morning.

The approval of the bill by both houses of the Connecticut assembly came after weeks of negotiations between Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, who said they were determined to produce a bipartisan bill in response to the tragedy.

But the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby argues that more guns keep people safer. It has blocked several efforts to impose stricter gun controls, insisting that the US Constitution forbids firearms restrictions.

Mr Obama argues that the vast majority of Americans support new restrictions and has accused the gun lobby of instilling fears of government gun confiscations to rally opposition.

The president on Wednesday praised the state of Colorado for providing "a model of what's possible" in relation to gun control.

The western state - which has a deeply embedded culture of gun ownership - last month imposed limits on the size of ammunition magazines and expanded background checks for gun buyers.

The president said that Colorado was "a state of proud hunters and sportsmen" that "treasures" its right to own guns, but at the same time there was "no conflict" between its tradition of gun ownership and the need for stricter regulation.

Colorado - like Connecticut - has also been hit by gun violence. Two students wielding guns killed 13 people and injured 20 others at Columbine high school in 1999, while a movie theatre massacre in July killed 12 and wounded dozens.

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Japan unveils massive stimulus plan

4 April 2013 Last updated at 05:35 ET

Japan's central bank has surprised markets with the size of its latest stimulus package, as it tries to spur growth and end years of falling prices.

The move was seen as a clear signal by the bank's new boss, Haruhiko Kuroda, that he was willing to spend heavily to achieve an inflation target of 2%.

The bank said it would increase its purchase of government bonds by 50 trillion yen ($520bn; £350bn) per year.

That is the equivalent of almost 10% of Japan's annual gross domestic product.

The bank added that it would buy longer-term government bonds as well as riskier assets.

"The previous approach of incremental easing wasn't enough to pull Japan out of deflation and achieve 2% inflation in two years," Mr Kuroda said.

"This time, we took all necessary steps to achieve the target."

Right moves? Continue reading the main story

Japan's economy has been hurt by a variety of factors, not least decades of deflation or falling prices.

Falling prices discourage people from spending and companies from investing, and that has trapped Japan in a cycle of sluggish growth and recession.

Given the slowdown in Japan's export sector in recent years, reviving domestic demand has become ever more crucial to spurring a fresh wave of economic growth in the country.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also said that stoking inflation is key to boosting domestic consumption.

Under pressure from the government, the central bank had doubled its inflation target to 2%, earlier this year.

Analysts said that while achieving that target was an uphill battle, the central bank's policies indicated that it was moving in the right direction.

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"Achieving 2% inflation in two years remains quite difficult. But the possibility of that target being achieved is now much higher than before with these measures," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist as Itochu Economic Research Institute.

The yen fell against the US dollar, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 2.2% on the central bank's decision, indicating markets were reacting positively to the extent of the stimulus measures.

'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was elected last year, has been pushing for the Bank of Japan to do more to help the economy.

Continue reading the main story

It's not just the volume of new money that is significant; it is where the new money will go.

Mr Kuroda is targeting long-term government bonds and non-government assets such as ETFs - Exchange Traded Funds.

Buying long-term government bonds should have the effect of pushing down long-term interest rates, which should make it extremely cheap to borrow in Japan over a much longer period of time.

That should encourage companies and people to borrow and invest in things such as real estate.

Buying ETFs is a way for the central bank to push money directly into the stock market, supporting and increasing the value of assets.

Again this should give companies an incentive to spend and invest.

There is one other effect of Mr Kuroda's policies he is less likely to talk about.

When it becomes very cheap to borrow long-term it can boost the so-called "carry-trade".

This is where traders borrow yen at very low interest rates and use it buy currencies in countries where rates are higher.

This will have the effect of further weakening the value of the yen.

That is good for Japanese exporters. But Tokyo is already under fire in the US, accused by some of currency manipulation.

The last thing Mr Kuroda wants is to set off a currency war.

His plan, a combination of big government spending as well as an aggressive central bank asset buying programme, has been dubbed Abenomics.

Mr Kuroda, who was nominated by Mr Abe for the top job at the central bank, is seen as sharing those views, which are a departure from the BOJ's previous stance.

On Thursday, the bank said it would increase its purchases of Japanese government bonds and extended the average maturity of the bonds it purchases from three years to seven years.

The bank added that it would also buy relatively riskier assets such as exchange-traded funds and real estate trust funds.

The decisions passed with unanimous votes from the board of the central bank, despite earlier reports that Mr Kuroda may not win the backing of his colleagues for the measures. The strength of support is an indication that this would mark the beginning of Mr Kuroda's shift towards more aggressive monetary easing.

Mr Kuroda has previously said that he would do "whatever it takes" to drive growth.

Analysts said the moves by the central bank indicated that he was delivering on the earlier rhetoric.

"Kuroda made good on his promise of boosting monetary easing in terms of both volume and types of assets that the bank purchases," said Junko Nishioka, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo.

"Today's decision was far more than market expectations given some scepticism among market players beforehand that the BOJ may not decide on aggressive policy steps this week."

However, some observers have expressed concern that this new strategy may leave Japan, which already has the largest debt pile of any industrialised nation, even more in the red.

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US boosts defences amid Korea threat

4 April 2013 Last updated at 06:11 ET

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Should we be worried? The Korean crisis - in 90 seconds

The US is sending a missile shield to the Pacific island of Guam as North Korea threatens nuclear strikes.

The Pentagon said the shield would be ready within weeks, adding to warships that were sent to the area earlier.

The North had named Guam among a list of possible targets for attack that included Hawaii and the US mainland.

North Korea is not thought to have the technology to strike the US mainland with either a nuclear weapon or a ballistic missile, analysts say.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Despite all the bluster, experts do not believe that North Korea has the capacity to launch a nuclear-armed ballistic missile at the US. However, American bases in South Korea, Japan and perhaps even as far away as Guam could well be within range of Pyongyang's conventionally armed missiles.

The US response has been a mixture of reassurance for its allies and prudent defensive precautions, including the deployment of warships with anti-missile capabilities.

Other anti-missile defences in the region are also being bolstered, a step that carries an additional message to Beijing - that if Pyongyang remains on this course anti-missile systems will only proliferate, something that may eventually compromise the effectiveness of China's own nuclear deterrent.

But it is capable of targeting US military bases in the region with its mid-range missiles.

Pyongyang has also continued to refuse access to workers from the South into a joint industrial zone in the North.

The Kaesong complex is staffed mainly by North Koreans but funded and managed by South Korean firms.

Pyongyang blocked access for a second day on Thursday, and threatened to shut down the zone.

North Korea has issued an array of statements in recent weeks threatening nuclear strikes and attacks on specific targets in the US and South Korea.

It has announced a formal declarations of war on the South, and pledged to reopen a mothballed nuclear reactor in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

In its latest statement, attributed to a military spokesman, the North appeared to refer to ongoing military exercises between the US and South Korea in which the US has flown nuclear-capable bombers over the South.

Continue reading the main story

US newspapers react

The New York Times says: "The Obama administration was prudent to bolster its forces in the region. Many experts assume Mr Kim won't attack the world's top military power or its allies, but Washington has an obligation to guarantee that if this assumption is wrong, it can defend the homeland."

From the Washington Post: "What the administration really needs, however, is a new strategy for answering the provocations. Diplomacy hasn't worked; neither has pressuring China to restrain the Kim regime. What has are financial sanctions targeted at the ruling elite."

The New Jersey Star-Ledger says: "While many buy into the old disarmament-for-food storyline, there's another camp concerned this episode might be different: that Kim, with little more than a year on the job, might actually believe his nation has become a nuclear power."

The statement said the "ever-escalating US hostile policy towards the DPRK [North Korea] and its reckless nuclear threat will be smashed".

It promised to use "cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means of the DPRK" and said the "merciless operation of its revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified".

The US Department of Defense said on Wednesday it would deploy the ballistic Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (Thaad) to Guam in the coming weeks.

The Thaad system includes a truck-mounted launcher and interceptor missiles.

The Pentagon said the deployment would "strengthen our regional defence posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat".

The US floated plans to send a Thaad system to Guam in 2009, but never followed through.

US officials recently also announced that the USS John McCain, a destroyer capable of intercepting missiles, had been positioned off the Korean peninsula.

Continue reading the main story

Timeline: Korean tensions

• 12 Dec: North launches a rocket, claiming to have put a satellite into orbit
• 12 Feb: North conducts underground nuclear test
• 11 Mar: US-South Korea annual military drills begin
• 30 Mar: North says it is entering a "state of war" with South
• 2 Apr: North says it is restarting Yongbyon reactor

Analysts have expressed concern that it is unclear exactly what Pyongyang hopes to achieve with its latest round of ramped-up rhetoric.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Seoul says the North could be seeking to pressure Washington to open fresh talks.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington was taking the threats seriously.

"As they have ratcheted up her bellicose, dangerous rhetoric, and some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger," said Mr Hagel, in his first major speech since taking up his post.

The North has not taken direct military action against its neighbours since 2010, when it shelled a South Korean island, killing four people.

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Nato strike 'kills Afghan police'

4 April 2013 Last updated at 06:45 ET

A Nato air strike in Afghanistan has killed four policemen and a civilian, officials say.

The air strike took place in the eastern Ghazni province, where Nato planes had been called in for support.

A spokesman for the provincial governor told the BBC the policemen were in civilian clothes and may have been mistaken for Taliban fighters.

Nato is investigating the incident. The death of civilians in air strikes has become a highly sensitive issue.

The latest incident happened after a Taliban attack on a local police post before dawn.

Nato planes were called in to help the local police, the AFP news agency quoted local officials as saying.

"They (Afghan Local Police ) were in civilian clothes - there were four of them, and they were towing a vehicle when the air strike hit them," said Fazul Sabawoon, a spokesman for Ghazni's governor.

"They could have been mistaken for Taliban."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been highly critical of Nato strikes causing civilian casualties in the past.

He banned Afghan security forces from calling in such strikes after an air strike killed 10 civilians in February. However it remains unclear whether the ban has been enforced.

Taliban insurgency

Thursday's incident comes just one day after the Taliban attacked a courthouse in the western province of Farah, killing more than 50 people. The suicide bomb and gun attack also left a further 90 people, mostly civilians, injured.

Militants disguised as soldiers tried unsuccessfully to free suspected Taliban members. According to a local police chief, the aim of the attack had been to free 15 Taliban prisoners who were being transferred to the courthouse for trial.

The attack was the deadliest in Afghanistan since December 2011, when at least 70 people were killed in a blast at Kabul's Shia shrine.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul said the attack would further dent the confidence of the Afghan people in the ability of the national army to protect them, as foreign troops prepare to withdraw in 2014.

Coalition forces have been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for eleven years.

Some 100,000 foreign combat troops are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

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Australia opens sex abuse inquiry

3 April 2013 Last updated at 04:39 ET

A national inquiry into child sex abuse has opened in the Australian city of Melbourne, with more than 5,000 people expected to provide evidence of "abuse and consequential trauma".

PM Julia Gillard has warned that the commission will unearth "some very uncomfortable truths".

She said that its opening was an "important moral moment" for Australia.

The inquiry will look at religious groups, NGOs and state care providers as well as government agencies.

But commission officials have warned that it is unlikely to complete its task by the end of 2015 as requested.

They say that is because the scope of the inquiry is so large - in relation to the number of people testifying and the number of institutions who may be affected by the allegations.

The probe will look into institutional responses to the sexual abuse of children.

Its formation was announced by Ms Gillard in November following pressure from lawmakers amid police claims that the Roman Catholic Church had concealed evidence of paedophile priests.

The commission was formed after revelations emerged of child abusers being moved from place to place instead of their crimes being reported and investigated. There were also accusations that adults failed to stop further acts of abuse.

Notice served

Ms Gillard told ABC radio that she wanted the commission to provide a "moment of healing" for the survivors of child sexual abuse - "because for too long, so many of these survivors have just run into closed doors and closed minds".

Continue reading the main story

• Likely to start holding private discussions with victims in May
• Public hearings not expected to start for several months
• Initial report due by middle of 2014 but the final report is not expected to meet the end of 2015 deadline
• Not a prosecutorial body, but has legal links with state and territory authorities
• Will not determine whether any person may be entitled to compensation
• Victims can phone the commission to give evidence, make a written statement, have a private face-to-face hearing or speak in public

"And second, I want the royal commission to provide for us recommendations about the future.

"We've let children down in the past as a country. We need to learn what we can do as a nation to better protect our children in the future."

Chairman Justice Peter McClellan said that the commission had already served notice to produce documents on the Roman Catholic church and the Salvation Army.

Correspondents say that the composition of the inquiry panel is unusual - it has six commissioners, enabling one or more to sit in private to hear victims' stories over the next five months. It is estimated that each victim will need at least an hour to tell his or her story.

Justice McClellan warned that the commission would be expensive and would "require the commitment of very significant sums of public money".

Abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests has been a major issue in Australia. There have been a series of convictions but also a series of alleged cover-ups.

In September, the Roman Catholic Church in Victoria state confirmed that more than 600 children had been sexually abused by its priests since the 1930s.

Similar allegations have emerged from New South Wales where the church has been accused of silencing victims, hindering police investigations, alerting offenders, destroying evidence and moving priests to protect them from prosecution.

During a visit to Australia in July 2008, Pope Benedict XVI met some of the victims and made a public apology for the abuse.

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North Korea blocks Kaesong access

3 April 2013 Last updated at 05:27 ET

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Lucy Williamson: Workers are being allowed out but not in

North Korea has stopped South Koreans from crossing the border to work at the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone, for the first time since 2009.

Seoul said about 800 South Koreans who had stayed overnight at the complex were being allowed to return.

Kaesong is a crucial revenue source for the North, which has not indicated how long the entry ban will last.

Pyongyang has threatened the South and the US in recent weeks, and has vowed to restart a mothballed nuclear plant.

The border into Kaesong is the last functioning crossing between the two Koreas, and the complex is the last significant symbol of co-operation.

Continue reading the main story

Kaesong Industrial Complex

• Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
• More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
• Complex as a whole produced $470m worth of goods in 2012 - the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
• South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in wages to North Korean workers - the complex is an important source of revenue for Pyongyang

The industrial park is home to more than 120 factories that employ more than 50,000 North Koreans and several hundred managers from the South.

Permission is granted on a daily basis for workers to cross into the complex, where they can stay overnight.

More than 850 South Koreans were at Kaesong when the ban was announced, and very few have returned.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson, at the border, says many have decided not to return immediately because they fear they will not be allowed back in.

One South Korean worker who returned from the complex said some of his colleagues had been held up because they had no transport.

"Other people couldn't return because they were supposed to be taken home on trucks scheduled to carry supplies into North Korea, but the trucks couldn't get into the North," said the worker.

The South's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok told reporters he wanted the ban to be lifted immediately.

"Ensuring the safety of our citizens is our top priority and the South Korean government will take necessary measures based on this principle," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Timeline: Korean tensions

• 12 Dec: North launches a rocket, claiming to have put a satellite into orbit
• 12 Feb: North conducts underground nuclear test
• 11 Mar: US-South Korea annual military drills begin
• 19 Mar: US flies B-52 bombers over South
• 27 Mar: North cuts military hotline with South
• 28 Mar: US flies B-2 stealth bombers over South
• 30 Mar: North says it is entering a "state of war" with South
• 2 Apr: North says it is restarting Yongbyon reactor

South Koreans were briefly denied access in March 2009, in an apparent response to annual US-South Korea military exercises.

Seoul says the South's firms pay $80m in wages each year to workers in the North.

The complex sustains the city of Kaesong, with an estimated population of 300,000.

'Reckless'

North Korea threatened to shut down the Kaesong complex last week.

It has also threatened attacks on US military bases in Asia and South Korean border islands.

On Tuesday it said it planned to restart its mothballed reactor at Yongbyon, which is the source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme.

The North has apparently been angered by UN sanctions imposed after a recent nuclear test.

Its statements against the US seem to be in response to the current round of US-South Korea military drills.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called recent North Korean actions "dangerous" and "reckless".

"Let me be perfectly clear here today. The United States will defend and protect ourselves and our treaty ally, the Republic of Korea [South Korea]," he said after talks with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se.

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Investigative journalist John Sweeney says North Korea has "worst government in the world"

The US has recently made a series of high-profile flights of advanced aircraft over South Korea.

The sorties included stealth fighters and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers.

Officials have also confirmed that the USS John McCain, an Aegis-class destroyer capable of intercepting missiles, has been positioned off the Korean peninsula.

A second destroyer, the USS Decatur, has been sent to the region.

China, the North's only powerful ally, said it had despatched officials on Tuesday to hold talks with ambassadors from North Korea, South Korea and the US.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the officials had expressed "serious concern" about the current situation.

"China believes all sides must remain calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are mutually provocative and must certainly not take actions which will worsen the situation," he said.

On Tuesday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the crisis had "gone too far" and called for urgent talks with the North.

"Things must begin to calm down, there is no need for the DPRK [North Korea] to be on a collision course with the international community. Nuclear threats are not a game," Mr Ban said.

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Mandela makes 'steady improvement'

3 April 2013 Last updated at 06:18 ET

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is making "steady improvement" under treatment for pneumonia, his doctors have said.

South Africa's presidency said in a statement that Mr Mandela had been visited by his family as he continues to make progress.

He was responding well to treatment and was much better than when admitted to hospital on 27 March, it said.

The hospital stay is Mr Mandela's fourth in just over two years.

In December he was treated for a lung infection and gallstones - his longest period in hospital since leaving prison in 1990.

In February, he was treated for a stomach condition.

Last week the former president, 94, had fluid drained from his lungs at the hospital, the name of which has not been disclosed.

There are no details yet on how much longer he will stay there.

Mr Mandela served as South Africa's first black president from 1994 to 1999 and is regarded by many as the father of the nation for leading the struggle against apartheid.

Despite his long imprisonment, Mr Mandela forgave his former enemies and as president urged South Africans of all races to work together and seek reconciliation.

In 1993 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

His main home is in Qunu, a small rural village in Eastern Cape province, where he says he spent the happiest days of his childhood.

However, doctors said in December he should remain at his home in the Johannesburg neighbourhood of Houghton to be close to medical facilities.

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Militants storm court in Afghanistan

3 April 2013 Last updated at 06:44 ET

A suicide bomb and gun attack on a courthouse in the west Afghan city of Farah has left at least six people dead and 70 injured.

A bomb-laden vehicle exploded outside the provincial courthouse, in a busy area close to banks and shops.

After a fierce initial gun battle, shooting continued as militants took cover in at least one building.

Taliban insurgents said they were behind the attack in the strategic province, which borders Iran.

A bomb and gun attack on the governor's compound last May left six policemen, a civilian and four attackers dead.

'Packed with civilians'

In Wednesday's attack, it appears the militants struck while a trial of Taliban suspects was taking place inside the courthouse. An unconfirmed report by the Taliban said those on trial had been freed.

The vast majority of those wounded were civilians, officials say.

Continue reading the main story

I heard a huge bang and when I looked I saw several attackers armed with light and heavy weapons running towards the bank and the court"

End Quote Sayedo Shopkeeper in Farah

Eyewitnesses, including doctors in the city, said both sides had used machine-guns and grenades.

Mohammad Yunus, Farah's deputy governor, told a private Afghan TV channel by phone that militants had set off a "large explosive-laden vehicle", damaging buildings including the governor's office, other government and non-government agencies, and two banks.

After the initial assault, he told Channel One TV, that gunmen took up position in "multi-storey buildings".

Speaking to the BBC, a senior Afghan security source said: "First there was a suicide attack, later on a group of attackers started fighting."

He also confirmed there had been fighting close to a court and a bank, both of which had been "packed with civilians".

Local shopkeeper Sayed Jan told the BBC: "I heard a huge bang and when I looked I saw several attackers armed with light and heavy weapons running towards the bank and the court.

"There is blood and broken glass. There is a heavy exchange of gunfire and my shop has become a centre of the fighting."

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said the group had carried out a suicide attack on the governor's office at approximately 09:00 local time (04:30 GMT).

Following the blast, gunmen entered several "government institutions", he was quoted as saying by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency.

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Eurozone unemployment rate hits 12%

2 April 2013 Last updated at 07:06 ET

The rate of unemployment in the eurozone hit a record high of 12% in February, official figures have shown.

The number of people unemployed in the 17 member states rose by 33,000 during the month, to hit 19.07 million, the statistics agency Eurostat said.

The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece, although the most recent figure for the country was from December.

Separately, figures confirmed a deterioration in the eurozone's manufacturing sector in March.

'Disappointing picture'

The jobless figures from Eurostat also showed that Spain's unemployment rate hit 26.3% in February, while the rate in Portugal remained stable at 17.5%.

The lowest rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%) and Germany (5.4%), both unchanged from January. The overall rate for the eurozone in January was revised up from 11.9% to 12%.

Across the 27 member states of the European Union, the unemployment rate rose to 10.9%, up from 10.8% the previous month.

There was further gloomy news from the eurozone's manufacturing sector, as a survey indicated that manufacturing activity fell to a three-month low last month.

The final Markit eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for March fell to 46.8, slightly higher than an initial estimate but below the 47.9 recorded in February. Any score below 50 indicates a contraction in the sector.

Germany and the Republic of Ireland both fell back below 50, while the rate of decline accelerated in all other eurozone countries apart from France.

The survey indicated that output and new orders fell across the eurozone, while job losses increased.

"The surveys paint a very disappointing picture across the region," said Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson.

"The manufacturing sector looks likely to have acted as a drag on the economy in the first quarter, with an acceleration in the rate of decline in March raising the risk that the downturn may also intensify in the second quarter."

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N Korea 'to restart nuclear reactor'

2 April 2013 Last updated at 07:14 ET

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Williamson: "Most people believe North Korea does not want all-out war"

North Korea says it will restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007.

In a statement, it said the move would bolster North Korea's nuclear forces "in quality and quantity".

The move is the latest in a series of measures by Pyongyang in the wake of its third nuclear test in February.

It has been angered by the resultant UN sanctions and joint US-South Korea annual military drills.

In recent weeks the communist state has issued a series of threats against both South Korean and US targets, to which the US has responded with high-profile movements of advanced aircraft and warships around the Korean peninsula.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

North Korea's announcement effectively undoes international efforts to constrain its nuclear programme. But restarting the reactor at Yongbyon will take time. Cooling systems have to be re-installed, the reactor fuelled and so on. It could be six months to a year before the reactor is up and running. This will open up a new source of plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Pyongyang's references to its highly-enriched uranium activities are puzzling experts and are less clear. This provides an alternative basis for a nuclear weapon. But nobody knows how many secret enrichment plants North Korea may have or the level to which they may already be enriching nuclear material.

So in many ways its back to square one in terms of nuclear diplomacy. But six years have passed since 2007 and in the intervening period North Korea's missile capabilities - the means by which it might eventually seek to deliver a nuclear warhead - have improved significantly.

A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said that if true, the North Korean move would be "highly regrettable".

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei called for restraint from all sides to resolve the "complex and sensitive" situation.

'Adjust and alter'

The reactor at Yongbyon - which was the source for plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme - was closed in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.

The cooling tower at the facility was later destroyed, but then the disarmament deal stalled.

Part of the reason the agreement fell apart was because the US did not believe Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities - a suspicion later bolstered when North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon to US scientist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.

While it appeared to be for electricity generation purposes, Mr Hecker said the facility could be readily converted to produce highly-enriched uranium for bombs.

The statement, carried by KCNA news agency, was attributed to a spokesman for the General Department of Atomic Energy.

Continue reading the main story

Yongbyon nuclear complex

• North Korea's main nuclear facility; thought to have produced the material for 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests
• Reactor shut down in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal; Cooling tower dismantled in 2008
• IAEA inspectors banned in April 2009 when North Korea pulled out of disarmament talks
• Experts believe that, if re-started, reactor could make one bomb's worth of plutonium per year
• A uranium enrichment facility was revealed in 2010. An American nuclear scientist said centrifuges appeared to be primarily for civilian nuclear power, but could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel
• Nuclear test based on uranium device would be harder to monitor than plutonium

The department had decided "to adjust and alter the uses of the existing nuclear facilities" including "readjusting and restarting all the nuclear facilities in Nyongbyon [Yongbyon] including uranium enrichment plant and 5MW graphite moderated reactor".

The work would be put into practice without delay, the statement said. It also attributed the move to the need to generate more electricity.

In a November 2010 report following his visit to Yongbyon, Siegfried Hecker said based on what he saw he believed North Korea could "resume all plutonium operations within approximately six months" at Yongbyon if so inclined.

The reactor can produce spent fuel rods that can be made into plutonium - which experts believe North Korea used for its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. It is not clear whether plutonium or uranium was used in the February test.

The reference to altering nuclear facilities could suggest that North Korea may begin openly enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels, which would give it a second, faster route to making nuclear weapons, reports the BBC's Lucy Williamson, who is in Seoul.

US warship deployed

Continue reading the main story

Timeline: Korean tensions

• 12 Dec: North Korea fires three-stage rocket, in move condemned by UN as banned test of long-range missile technology
• 12 Feb: North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test, its third after tests in 2006 and 2009
• 11 Mar: US-South Korea annual joint military drills begin
• 19 Mar: US flies B-52 nuclear-capable bombers over Korean peninsula, following several North Korean threats
• 27 Mar: North Korea cuts military hotline with South
• 28 Mar: US flies B-2 stealth bombers over Korean peninsula
• 30 Mar: North Korea says it is entering a "state of war" with South Korea
• 2 Apr: North Korea says it is restarting mothballed Yongbyon reactor

In the weeks since the nuclear test, North Korea's rhetoric has escalated - including multiple threats of attacks on US bases in South Korea and Japan, and on South Korean border islands.

But the US, which has in recent days flown B-52 bombers, B-2 stealth planes and F-22 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of strength, says it is seeing no signs of increased military activity in North Korea.

"Despite the harsh rhetoric we're hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilisations and positioning of forces," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

But he said the US was "monitoring the Korean situation very diligently".

Defence officials told reporters that a US Aegis-class warship capable of defending against missile strikes had also been moved to the south-west coast off South Korea.

This would offer "greater missile defence options should [they] become necessary", an official told Reuters news agency.

Reports also suggest the US is moving a sea-based radar platform called SBX-1 into the western Pacific so that it can monitor North Korea.

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