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SKorea: NKorea Building Up Special Forces
Wednesday, 29 Dec 2010

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says in a biennial military review that North Korea has boosted its special forces and deployed huge artillery guns and a new kind of tank close to the heavily fortified border.

The report released Thursday by the Defense Ministry also says the North intends to rely on its nuclear program as a counterweight to South Korea's high-tech military.

The document says North Korea has 200,000 special operations forces, an increase from 180,000 in its last previous assessment in 2008. It says those forces are aimed at infiltrating and disrupting sensitive facilities.

The update on North Korea's military came amid lingering tension following a North Korean artillery attack that killed four people on a front-line island last month.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president said Wednesday that urgent progress must be made next year in dismantling North Korea's atomic weapons program ahead of a key anniversary that could spur Pyongyang to bolster its nuclear capabilities.

President Lee Myung-bak said diplomats must quickly persuade the North to abandon its nuclear aspirations because Pyongyang is pushing to create a "powerful, prosperous nation" by 2012. The year is the 100th since the birth of Kim Il Sung, the revered guerrilla fighter-turned-political leader who founded the communist state in 1948 and the father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

That push could involve more aggressive behavior, and a South Korean Foreign Ministry-affiliated think tank, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, warned in a recent report that North Korea could be planning another nuclear test for next year.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. Last month, the North shelled southern-held Yeonpyeong Island along the disputed sea border, killing four people, including two civilians, in its first assault on a civilian area since the war.

Six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program have been stalled for nearly two years, with Washington and Seoul insisting that the North must make progress on past disarmament commitments before negotiations can resume. The North, chronically short of food and fuel, has previously used nuclear and missile tests, and violence, as ways to force the aid-for-disarmament talks and has recently said it's willing to return to negotiations.

The U.S. and South Korean hard-line stance, however, only strengthened last year after Pyongyang launched rockets and conducted its second nuclear test.

South Korea has reacted with shock and outrage this year to the North's alleged torpedoing of a southern warship in March, killing 46, and its artillery barrage last month. North Korea denies the torpedo attack.

South Korea has recently vowed a strong response to the North should there be future attacks.

"South Korea is not aiming for a war," Lee said in a meeting with top defense officials. "If provoked, however, we must make a strong response and win."

The Defense Ministry, in its report to Lee about next year's policy plans, said it will deploy unspecified "key assets" on front-line islands to bolster their reconnoissance and striking capabilities to deal with potential surprise attacks by North Korea.

Worries about North Korea's nuclear program also deepened in November when the country revealed a uranium enrichment facility — which could give it a second way to make atomic bombs. North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen atomic bombs.

Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary Wednesday that its uranium-enrichment factory "is operating on a normal footing" to feed fuel to a light water reactor that is under construction. The commentary — via the official Korean Central News Agency — said the uranium program is for peaceful purposes only and accused the U.S. of wrongfully contemplating sanctions on the North.

President Lee called Wednesday for "big progress" in ridding the North of its nuclear programs next year. The stalled six-nation talks are the way to do that, Lee said while being briefed by officials about next year's foreign policy plans, according to the president's office.

Lee's spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said that Lee's comments did not reflect any new flexibility on resuming the nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

"Lee has repeatedly said North Korea must show substantial changes in terms of the dismantling of its nuclear program," Kim told reporters, according her office. "Regarding that, our position hasn't changed at all."

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan later told reporters that chances for talks with North Korea on the nuclear issue remain open.

Despite lingering tension, Lee reiterated his belief that unification with North Korea is drawing closer and ordered preparations for unification.

"I think we should stress to our people in the coming year the view that unification is not far away, and that it has many positive aspects for us," Lee told Unification Ministry officials.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek later told reporters that people in the secretive North have become aware of changes outside their country, and that private markets are spreading there. He declined to say how soon unification could happen.

Hyun said he believes resuming inter-Korean talks are necessary but that North Korea must first demonstrate sincerity. For instance, Hyun said North Korea should take "responsible measures" over the two attacks this year.