Northwest Indiana Discussion

Gee, what a day. The Pope resigns

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Documents released Friday shed light on the inner workings of a secretive and now-disgraced Roman Catholic order called the Legion of Christ, including new details on how the organization took control of an elderly woman's finances and persuaded her to bequeath it $60 million.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (CBS/AP) — South Korea and the United States began annual military drills Monday despite North Korean threats to respond by voiding the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the U.S.

Japanese media were citing a story in the Monday edition of North Korea’s ruling party newspaper as saying the armistice is no longer in effect.

Anti-war demonstrators turned out near the U.S. Embassy in the South Korean capital of Seoul to protest the start of the drills.

Pyongyang had launched a bombast-filled propaganda campaign against the drills, which involve 10,000 South Korean and about 3,000 American troops, and against last week’s U.N. vote to impose new sanctions over the North’s Feb. 12 nuclear test. Analysts believe much of that campaign is meant to shore up loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un.

U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber, left, flies over near Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 28, 2013. A day after shutting down a key military hotline, Pyongyang instead used indirect communications with Seoul to allow South Koreans to cross the heavily armed border and work at a factory complex that is the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Lee Jung-hun, Yonhap)

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, the official KCNA news agency said.

KCNA said North Korea and the United States could only settle their differences by “physical means”. The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era short-range Scud missiles that can hit South Korea but its longer-range Nodong and Musudan missiles, which could in theory hit U.S. Pacific bases, are untested.

China, the North’s sole major ally, repeated its calls for restraint on the Korean peninsula at a regular Foreign Ministry briefing and made no criticism of the U.S. flights.
“We hope that relevant parties will work together in pushing for a turnaround of the tense situation,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

This is all China's doing....

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has moved a missile with “considerable range” to its east coast, South Korea’s defense minister said Thursday, but he added that there are no signs that the North is preparing for a full-scale conflict.

The report came hours after North Korea’s military warned that it has been authorized to attack the U.S. using “smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear weapons. It was the North’s latest war cry against America in recent weeks. The reference to smaller weapons could be a claim that North Korea has improved its nuclear technology, or a bluff.

The North is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to miniaturize nuclear bombs enough to mount them on long-range missiles.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said he did not know the reasons behind the North’s missile movement, and that it “could be for testing or drills.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday that the administration wouldn’t be surprised if North Korea followed through on threats to launch a missle.

“We’ve obviously seen the reports that North Korea may be making preparations to launch a missile. We’re monitoring this situation cclosely, and we would not be surprised to see them take such an action,” Carney said during a press briefing.

“We have seen them launch missiles in the past and the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly condemned them as violations of the North’s obligations under numerous Security Council resolutions, and it would fit their current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric and actions.”

Carney reiterated the United States’ call for North Korean leaders to choose peace.

“We urge them to stop with the provocations and to focus instead on meeting their international obligations and feeding their own people,” he said. “They are only making themselves more and more isolated from the rest of the world.”

Washington (CNN) – The United States is delaying a long-planned missile test to avoid any misperceptions by North Korea amid mounting tensions, a senior U.S. Department of Defense official said Saturday.

Postponing the launch, initially scheduled for Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, was “prudent and wise,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The missile test had nothing to do with North Korea, but the United States decided to hold off “given recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” the official said.

“The U.S. will conduct another test soon and remains strong committed to our nuclear deterrence capabilities,” said the official, who was not authorized to publicly release details of the launch.

It was not immediately known what type of missile the United States planned to test.