WORLD
Saturday, February 13, 2016
East Oregonian
U.S. deploys more
Patriot missiles in
South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea
(AP) — The United States
temporarily deployed an
additional Patriot missile
battery in South Korea in
response to North Korea’s
nuclear test and a long-range
rocket launch, ahead of talks
next week to set up an even
more sophisticated U.S.
missile defense in a move
that has worried China and
Russia.
The new tough stance
follows
South
Korea’s
decision to shut down an
inter-Korean factory park
that had been the rival
Koreas’ last major symbol of
cooperation, but that Seoul
said had been used by North
Korea to fund its nuclear
and
missile
programs.
North Korea responded by
deporting South Korean
citizens,
seizing
South
Korean assets and vowing to
militarize the park.
South Korea on Friday cut
off power and water supplies
to the industrial park and
announced that its planned
talks with the United States
on deploying the Terminal
High-Altitude Area Defense,
or THAAD, one of the most
advanced missile defense
systems in the world, could
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starting date for the talks.
In the meantime, the U.S.
military command in South
Korea said Saturday that an
air defense battery unit from
Ft. Bliss, Texas, has been
conducting ballistic missile
training using the Patriot
system at Osan Air Base near
Seoul.
Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal,
commander of the U.S.
Eighth Army, said “exercises
like this ensure we are always
ready to defend against an
attack from North Korea.”
“North Korea’s continued
development of ballistic
missiles
against
the
expressed will of the inter-
national community requires
the alliance to maintain
effective and ready ballistic
missile defenses,” he said in
a statement.
A spokeswoman for
U.S. Forces Korea couldn’t
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missile battery from Texas
would be deployed in South
Korea. The U.S. military
already has an operating
Patriot missile defense
system in South Korea to
counter the threat of North
Korea’s shorter-range arsenal
and medium-range missiles.
South Korean media have
long speculated that the two
countries are working on
a THAAD deployment in
South Korea, but it took the
North’s rocket launch last
Sunday, which outsiders see
as a test of banned ballistic
missile technology, for the
allies to formally announce
they will begin the missile
defense talks.
Beijing and Moscow are
sensitive to the possibility
of THAAD in South Korea;
critics say the system could
help U.S. radar spot missiles
in other countries.
China’s state media
quickly made the country’s
displeasure known, while
Russia also expressed worries
about the deployment. North
Korea has previously warned
of a nuclear war in the region
and threatened to bolster its
armed forces if the THAAD
deployment occurs.
In Munich, U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry met with
his Chinese and South Korean
counterparts to discuss the
response to North Korea’s
actions, including the missile
system. In talks with South
Korean Foreign Minister Yun
Byung-se, Kerry expressed
support for Seoul’s decision
to shut down the factory
park in the North Korean
border town of Kaesong and
discussed a broad range of
potential sanctions against
the North, South Korea’s
Foreign Ministry said.
Page 9A
Declaration
of unity
Pope Francis,
left, head of the
Russian Orthodox
Church Patriarch
Kirill, center, and
Cuba’s President
Raul Castro stand
together during a
document signing
ceremony at Jose
Marti airport in
Havana, Cuba on
Friday. Francis and
Kirill signed a joint
declaration on
religious unity. The
declaration calls
for peace in Syria,
Iraq and Ukraine
and urges Europe
to “maintain its
faithfulness to its
Christian roots.”
Alejandro Ernesto/AP photo
Diplomats aim for temporary Syria truce in a week
BEIRUT (AP) — A
diplomatic push for a
temporary pause in Syria’s
civil war and the delivery
of humanitarian aid faced
huge hurdles Friday, with
Russia saying it would
continue its airstrikes and
government planes dropping
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surrender because “the belt
is narrowing around you.”
A plan for the “cessation
in violence” announced by
the U.S. and Russia does
not go into effect for a week,
and while the Syrian oppo-
sition expressed “cautious
optimism,” it also said more
innocent civilians would be
killed in that span.
Government
forces,
aided by a withering Russian
bombing campaign, are
trying to encircle rebels in
Syria’s largest city of Aleppo
and cut off their supply route
to Turkey. Another week
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Syrian troops closer to that
goal.
Syrian forces recaptured
several strategic hills north of
Aleppo and are in position to
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the rebel-held eastern suburbs,
according to Al-Manar TV, a
Lebanese channel run by the
militant group and Syrian ally
Hezbollah.
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Nicholas Kamm/Pool Photo via AP, File
Secretary of State John
Kerry at a conference en-
titled ‘Supporting Syria &
The Region,’ in London.
government and opposition
forces occurred south of
Aleppo, around the town
of Tamoura, according to
the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human
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the al-Qaida-linked Nusra
Front were killed.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry praised the
agreement in Munich as a
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he noted that a cessation
of hostilities, if achieved,
would only be a “pause” in
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work would be needed to
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He also said the agree-
ments made were “commit-
ments on paper” only.
“The real test is whether
or not all the parties honor
those commitments and
implement them,” he told
reporters after the nearly
six-hour meeting concluded
early Friday.
Kerry
and
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov said a task force
must try to deal with the
“modalities” of the tempo-
rary truce. The task force
will include members of the
military along with repre-
sentatives from countries
that are supporting various
armed groups in Syria. The
Syrian government and the
opposition would both have
to agree to the details.
That could pave the way
for a new round of peace
talks between President
Bashar Assad’s government
and the opposition, scheduled
for Feb. 25 in Geneva. An
earlier session broke down
last week, due largely to gains
by Assad’s military helped by
the Russian airstrikes.
The deal appeared to be
the result of a compromise
between the United States,
which had wanted an imme-
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which had proposed one to
start on March 1.
Lavrov made clear that
Moscow will continue
airstrikes on Aleppo and
other parts of Syria because
they are targeting groups
that are not eligible for the
“temporary cessation of
hostilities.”
In the Syrian capital of
Damascus, a member of
Assad’s ruling Baath Party
told The Associated Press that
the army’s operations will
continue against the Islamic
State groups, the Nusra Front,
and other factions that are
close to them.
Parliament
member
Sharif Shehadeh said “the
army aims to regain all
Syrian territories and any
part of Syria is a target for
the army.”
Syrian aircraft dropped
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province telling militants to
“drop your arms or this will
be your fate.” They bore a
photo of the nearly naked,
bullet-riddled body of a
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“The belt is narrowing
around you more and more.
Go back to where you came
from. Surrender or you will
face you inevitable fate,” the
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Kerry and Lavrov also
announced an agreement
to “accelerate and expand”
deliveries of humanitarian
aid to besieged Syrian
communities beginning this
week.
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