March 31, 2013 9:03pm
1. SEOUL - North Korea vowed Sunday to strengthen its nuclear weapons, a day after announcing it was in a "state of war" with South Korea, and said it would never trade its atomic deterrent for aid.
2. Tensions have risen sharply since the United Nations tightened sanctions in response to the North's nuclear and missile tests, and since the United States and South Korea launched military drills south of the border.
3. On Saturday the North declared it was in a "state of war" with the South and warned Seoul and Washington that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.
4. A meeting Sunday of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, chaired by leader Kim Jong-Un, decided that the country's possession of nuclear weapons "should be fixed by law," the official KCNA news agency reported without elaborating.
5. The nuclear armed forces "should be expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively until the denuclearization of the world is realized," it added.
6. Members also decided to develop a light water reactor as part of a civilian nuclear power industry to ease electricity shortages, KCNA said.
7. The North in 2010 disclosed the existence of a uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor, purportedly to generate power.
8. Experts said it could easily be reconfigured to make fuel for nuclear weapons, supplementing the existing plutonium weapons program.
9. The North in April 2009 formally abandoned six-party talks which offered it economic and security benefits in return for denuclearization.
10. On Sunday it reiterated that its atomic weapons are not a bargaining chip. "They are a treasure of a reunified country which can never be traded with billions of dollars," KCNA quoted the central committee members as saying.
11. The meeting vowed to push both for economic construction and nuclear development, with efforts to develop agriculture and light industry and to stabilize living standards.
12. "The country's economy should be shifted into knowledge-based economy and the foreign trade be made multilateral and diversified and investment be widely introduced," the news agency reported.
13. Efforts should be made to develop space science and technology, including the launching of more advanced satellites including communications satellites.
14. Pyongyang says its long-range rocket launches are aimed at putting satellites into orbit for peaceful purposes. The United States and other nations say the real purpose is to test banned ballistic missile technology.
40,000 Filipinos in Korea
15. President Benigno Aquino III on Sunday ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to coordinate closely with Filipinos in South Korea amid the North's reported announcement of a "state of war."
16. DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said that the Philippine embassy in Seoul is already monitoring the situation and coordinating with Filipino community leaders "on steps to be taken in case escalation of tensions warrants an evacuation."
17. The Embassy is also coordinating with Filcom leaders on steps to be taken in case escalation of tensions warrants an evacuation.
— Raul S. Hernandez (@dfaspokesperson) March 30, 2013
He also said a state of "heightened alertness" remains in force for all Filipinos in Korea.
A state of heightened alertness remains in force for all Filipinos in Korea.
— Raul S. Hernandez (@dfaspokesperson) March 30, 2013
The PNA also reported that Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has contingency plans for potential external threats.
"[The] NDRRMC has a continuing contingency plan to respond to external threats, including previous missiles launched from the two Koreas," Coloma said.
"We maintain a posture of vigilance and adherence to diplomatic modes of conflict resolution," he added. — with a report from Agence France Presse/DVM/BM/HS, GMA News
