• published: 03 Apr 2013
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The United States will not accept North Korea as a "nuclear state," Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Tuesday, just hours after Pyongyang announced plans to restart a nuclear reactor it shut down five years ago. North Korea's decision comes as tensions on the Korean peninsula escalate over Kim Jong Un's threats to wage war against the United States and South Korea. "The bottom line is simply that what Kim Jong Un is choosing to do is provocative. It is dangerous, reckless. The United States will not accept the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) as a nuclear state," Kerry said during a joint briefing in Washington with South Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se. "And I reiterate again the United States will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, Korea and Japan. We are fully prepared and capable of doing so, and I think the DPRK understands that." North Korea's declaration that it would reopen the reactor demonstrates Kim's commitment to the country's nuclear weapons program that the international community has tried to persuade it to abandon. The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, KCNA, reported that the reclusive state's atomic energy department intends to "readjust and restart all the nuclear facilities" at its main nuclear complex, in Yongbyon. Those facilities include a uranium enrichment facility and a reactor that was "mothballed and disabled" under an agreement reached in October 2007 during talks among North Korea, the United States and four other nations, KCNA said. The announcement was followed by a plea for calm from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is South Korean. North Korean defectors return rhetorical fire "The current crisis has already gone too far," he said in a statement from Andorra. "Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counteractions, and fuel fear and instability. "Things must begin to calm down, as this situation, made worse by the lack of communication, could lead down a path that nobody should want to follow." Ban said dialogue and negotiations are "the only way to resolve the current crisis." The tensions on the Korean Peninsula have led Pyongyang to sever a key military hot line with Seoul and declare void the 1953 armistice that stopped the Korean War. The United States has made a show of its military strength amid annual training exercises with South Korea, flying B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons, Cold War-era B-52s and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over South Korea. On Tuesday, the United States positioned a second destroyer -- the USS Decatur -- near the Korean peninsula, a defense official said on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorized to release details to the media. A day earlier, the U.S Navy moved a warship and a sea-based radar platform closer to the North Korean coast in order to monitor that country's military moves, including possible new missile launches, the Defense Department said Monday. North Korea on Wednesday also blocked more than 480 South Korean workers from entering the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex, which sits on the North Korea side of the border, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry. "North Korea said today that it is only approving people to go back to South Korea and not approving entrance" to the complex, said Kim Hyung-seok, a spokesman for the ministry. He urged the North to resume letting workers enter. There are 861 South Koreans inside Kaesong at the moment, the ministry said, and 446 have registered to leave. The symbol of an era of better relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, Kaesong is a joint economic cooperation zone between the two Koreas where scores of South Korean companies operate. It also is an important source of hard currency for the North. The move comes after threats in recent days by Pyongyang to shut down the industrial complex. Seoul, meanwhile, on Monday warned that any provocative moves from North Korea would trigger a strong response "without any political considerations." U.S. moves warship, sea-based radar to watch North Korea Murky motivation The motivation behind the North's announcement Tuesday on the nuclear facilities was unclear, said Ramesh Thakur, director of the Center for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament at Australian National University in Canberra, suggesting that it was unlikely to make a big difference militarily for the country, which is already believed to have four to 10 nuclear weapons. The North Koreans may be hoping to use the move as a bargaining chip in any future talks, he said, or it could be an attempt by the country's young leader to shore up support domestically.