NKorea says it won't give up nuclear weapons

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Tuesday it will hold onto its nuclear arsenal until it is satisfied the U.S. is not hiding atomic weapons in South Korea and Washington establishes diplomatic relations with the regime.
The North has long accused Washington of stationing nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula for a possible attack on the communist nation. Both the South and the U.S. deny having nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Regional powers have been trying for years to rid North Korea of its nuclear program, but negotiations have recently stalled. The Foreign Ministry indicated it would consider giving up its nuclear weapons if the U.S. threat is removed and diplomatic relations between the two nations are established.
"We won't need atomic weapons when U.S. nuclear threats are removed, and the U.S. nuclear umbrella over South Korea is gone," the statement said.
The statement comes a week before President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration amid signs that the regime wants good relations with the next U.S. administration. Washington does not have diplomatic ties with the North, but Obama has said he would be willing to meet with leader Kim Jong Il if it helps resolve the nuclear standoff.
The two Koreas, with the South backed by U.S.-led international troops, fought a bitter war from 1950-53 that ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. The rivals technically remain at war and are divided by a heavily fortified border.
After testing a nuclear bomb in 2006, the North agreed to a six-nation pact promising aid in exchange for disarmament. However, the process has been stalled for months over how to verify Pyongyang's past nuclear activities, with the North rejecting Washington's proposed protocol.
The North reiterated its commitment Tuesday to a nuclear weapon-free Korean peninsula. But it said verification must take place at the last stage of the disarmament process — not the second of three phases as the U.S. wants.
"It is necessary to simultaneously verify the whole Korean peninsula," the ministry statement said, indicating that the nuclear talks may continue to be stalled.
The ministry statement came as South Korea prepared to send a team of nuclear experts to the North in Seoul's highest-level visit in nearly a year.
A six-member team of experts led by Seoul's No. 2 envoy to North Korea disarmament talks, Hwang Joon-kook, will examine unused fuel rods at the North's main reprocessing plant, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.
North Korea has some 14,000 unused fuel rods, and Seoul has said it would consider buying them if they can be adapted for use in South Korea's power-generating nuclear reactors. The North also has some 8,000 spent fuel rods, which could be used to harvest weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear bombs if reprocessed.
Pyongyang agreed during international disarmament talks in December to export its unused fuel rods.

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Iran says uncovers U.S.-backed coup plot

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has arrested four Iranians accused of involvement in a U.S.-financed plot aimed at toppling its Islamic system of government, the judiciary said on Tuesday.
The announcement came a week before the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president. In a shift from George W. Bush's approach, he has pledged to increase diplomatic efforts to engage Iran and talk directly to its leaders.

The United States, which cut ties with Iran shortly after its 1979 Islamic revolution, accuses Tehran of seeking to build nuclear bombs. Iranian officials deny the charge, saying the nuclear program is for electricity production.
Iran often accuses the West of seeking to undermine the Islamic state through a "soft" or "velvet revolution" with the help of intellectuals and others inside the country.
The New York Times on Saturday said Bush had deflected an Israeli request last year for bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran's nuclear complex, saying he had authorized covert action to sabotage its suspected atomic arms development.
Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said the accused, who he said were financed by the U.S. government and Congress, were arrested in Tehran and their verdicts would be announced soon.
"The news whose details which will be announced either tomorrow or the day after is in connection to a soft network whose intent was to topple (the Islamic system), with U.S. government funding," Jamshidi told a news conference.
"One of the goals these individuals were pursuing in Iran was to set up a network to topple the Islamic establishment, all of whose operators have been arrested," he said.
U.S. "CRIMES"
Jamshidi said the group, whom he did not identify, had tried to recruit other people in Iran and train them both in and outside the country in techniques for undermining the system. He did not provide details.
The official IRNA news agency also quoted him as saying the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been involved in establishing and guiding the network.
"Unfortunately we have witnessed in the past years crimes guided or led by this (U.S.) government," Jamshidi said.
Under Bush, whose term ends on January 20, the United States has spearheaded a drive to isolate Iran in order to pressure it into halting its nuclear activities, something which Tehran has repeatedly refused to do.
The New York Times report said Bush, aware that financial sanctions against Iran were inadequate, had turned to the CIA and authorized a broader effort aimed at Iran's industrial infrastructure supporting its nuclear program.
Obama, who takes office on January 20, last week said he views Iran as a "genuine threat" but still favors initiating a dialogue with it. On Sunday, he said he will take a new approach toward Tehran that will emphasize respect for the Iranian people and spell out what the United States expects of its leaders.

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Israeli warplanes pursue Gaza weapons warehouses

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gazans cowered in their homes Sunday as Israeli warplanes pressing one of Israel's deadliest assaults ever on Palestinian militants unleashed missiles on weapons warehouses, a police station, the homes of militant field commanders and dozens of other targets across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
More than 270 Palestinians — most of them militants — have been killed and more than 600 people wounded since Israel's campaign to quash rocket barrages from Gaza began midday Saturday. Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu said some 250 attacks were carried out since the offensive began.

Militants, unbowed, kept up the pressure on Israel, firing dozens more rockets and mortars at Israeli border communities early Sunday.
One rocket struck close to the largest city in southern Israel, Ashdod, some 23 miles from Gaza. It reached almost twice as deep into Israeli territory as ever before and confirmed security officials' concerns that militants are capable of putting major cities within rocket range.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council expressed serious concern about the escalating situation in Gaza and called on Israel and the Palestinians to immediately halt all violence and military activities. The U.N.'s most powerful body called for a new cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and for the opening of border crossings into Gaza to enable humanitarian supplies to reach the territory.
Many of Israel's Western allies urged restraint on both sides, though the U.S. blamed Hamas for the fighting.
The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired more than 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and 10 times that number over the past year.

US urges Hamas to cease rocket attacks on Israel (AP)

CRAWFORD, Texas – The U.S. on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.
The White House called for the cease-fire to be restored, yet there were few indications that the violence, which has left more than 200 people dead and nearly another 400 wounded, was waning. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that the operation in Gaza would widen if necessary.

It was "completely unacceptable" for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to launch attacks on Israel after a truce lasting several months, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
"These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," Johndroe said in Texas as President George W. Bush was spending the week before New Year's at his ranch here. "They need to stop. We have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot in politics and one foot in terror."
President-elect Barack Obama was receiving an intelligence briefing on Saturday from various security agencies, Johndroe said. Bush has spoken to regional leaders and the administration will remain in close contact, he said.
Obama also spoke during the day with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was keeping Bush abreast of the situation.

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