16A • SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011 WORLD TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

SKorea vows strong response

to any attacks by the North
By ALEX KENNEDY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SINGAPORE — South Korea warned
Saturday that any future attacks by North
Korea would be met by a very strong
response, saying that Pyongyang is
becoming increasingly bold in its provo-
cations.
South Korea must react to any future
attacks by the North with stiffer respons-
es than in the past, Defense Minister
Kim Kwan Jin said at a regional security
conference in Singapore.
“Proactive deterrence means that if
there is a provocation, we will respond
Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo
very strongly,” Kim said. “I don’t think
United States Marine Joshua Barron reacts onboard a medevac helicopter from
the US Army’s Task Force Lift “Dust Off”, Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation we can be reserved because they are
Regiment, after he was wounded in an IED strike near Sangin, in the Helmand being bolder and bolder.”
Province of southern Afghanistan, Saturday. Tensions between the two countries
that share the Korean peninsula have
Gates said the U.S. is seeking to per-
suade North Korea to follow internation-
al norms through negotiations with the
participants in stalled six-nation nuclear
disarmament talks that involve the two
Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S.
“The United States has no interest in
regime change,” Gates said. “We have no
interest in destabilizing North Korea.”
North Korea vowed Friday to launch
“retaliatory military actions” against
South Korea, a threat that came days
after Seoul said its military had used
photos of Pyongyang’s ruling family for
target practice.
“From now on,” the North “will
launch practical and overall retaliatory
military actions to wipe out the group of
traitors at a stroke,” said a statement
from an unidentified spokesman for the
general staff of the North’s Korean

Afghan Taliban talks appear jumped since two deadly attacks blamed
on North Korea last year. The North has
denied involvement in the sinking of a
warship in March 2010 that killed 46
People’s Army.
South Korean marines and some
army units had used pictures of North
Korean leader Kim Jong Il, his son and

to be gaining traction South Korean sailors and argued that a

By DEB RIECHMANN
and KATHY GANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan —
Efforts to start peace talks
with the Taliban appear to
be gaining traction, with
the head of the Afghan
peace council saying
Saturday that it has been in
contact with three factions
of the insurgent movement
and the U.S. defense secre-
tary predicting negotia-
tions by the end of the year.
Other signs also suggest
that discussions with
insurgents are moving for-
ward.
Marc Grossman, the
U.S. special envoy to
Afghanistan and Pakistan,
has reached out directly or
indirectly to three insur-
gent groups, although it’s
unclear how the efforts by
the peace council and the
U.S. dovetail, Western offi-
cials say.
The United Nations will
give a thumb’s up or
thumb’s down later this
month on whether to take
Taliban figures off a U.N.
sanctions blacklist list — a
move that could enable
prospective intermediaries
to travel abroad to hold
talks.
One Western official has
told The Associated Press
that the fate of the only U.S.
soldier being held by
insurgents has been men-
tioned in recent prelimi-
nary discussions between
the Americans and Tayyab
Aga, the former personal
secretary to the Taliban’s
one-eyed leader Mullah
Mohammed Omar. The
U.S. is asking what it will
take to win the release of
Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of
Hailey, Idaho, who will
mark two years in captivity
on June 30.
It’s not clear whether
Aga still has links to Omar
or whether Omar supports
contacts with U.S. officials.
The Taliban have flatly
denied that anyone is talk-
ing to the U.S. or to the
Afghan government, and
senior Pakistani security
officials say Omar is rigid
in his refusal to negotiate.
At a news conference
Saturday in the Afghan
capital with President
Hamid Karzai, U.S.
Secretary of Defense
November artillery barrage that killed
four was provoked by South Korean fir-
ing drills.
heir-apparent Kim Jong Un, and his
father, the North’s revered founder Kim
Il Sung, as firing targets since the North’s
deadly shelling of a South Korean border
Robert Gates said if the In remarks earlier Saturday at the IISS island in November. The South said
U.S.-led coalition and Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, Tuesday that it would tell units to use
Afghan forces can hold ter- only standard targets.
ritory captured from the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said
Taliban, and even expand North Korea’s development of long- Kim Kwan Jin said North Korea has
that security “we will be in range missiles and nuclear weapons put been insincere in previous talks and
a position towards the end the country “in the process of becoming must change its attitude for South Korea
of this year to perhaps have a direct threat to the United States.” to return to formal discussions.
a successful opening to
reconciliation.”
But Gates, who’s retiring
June 30, said much
depends on whether the
May 2 death of al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden
creates a new opening.
A day earlier in
Singapore, Gates said it
was important to maintain
military pressure on the
Taliban to reach a peace
deal.
The Taliban publicly
insist they have no interest
in negotiating peace so
long as foreign troops
occupy Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama is
due to make a decision on
U.S. troop reductions in the
next couple of weeks.
More than 200 NATO
troops have been killed in
Afghanistan this year,
including four who died
Saturday in an explosion in
the east of the country.

THANK YOU
From Refuge Property Owners To:

Lake Havasu City Voters

Desert Hills Residents
Desert Hills Fire Department
And Our Special Team of Volunteers

For protecting Lake Havasu City

by supporting a NO VOTE on the
Refuge Annexation

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

DENNIS SCHILLING
CHAIRMAN, POLITICAL COMMITTEE
Lake Havasu City
For leading the way and Havasu
(928) 208-4641
(928) 208-4641

having the courage to stand firm 55 South Lake Havasu Ave. Suite L
Sunset Plaza at Hwy. 95 & Swanson Ave. (near Starbucks)

www.RefugeAnnexation.com
Provided by Rescue the Refuge Against Annexation/Prop 400;
Major Funding Provided by Rescue the Refuge, LLC