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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2003)
8 Wednesday, March 5, 2003 North Korea interception of U.S. plane raises nuclear tension By Christopher Torchia THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea — After North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. reconnais sance plane, the communist country said Tuesday the threat of armed confrontation on the Korean Peninsula was growing because of what it called U.S. aggression. North Korea did not com ment on the interception of the plane. Its state-run media instead criti cized annual U.S.- South Korean military exercises that began Tuesday, saying they were preparation for an attack. The exercise, named Foal Eagle, ends April 2. “This Foal Eagle exercise is escalating the danger of armed clashes on the Korean Peninsula,” said . Minju Joson, a North Korean newspaper. approached the U.S. plane over the Sea of Japan on Sunday, coming as close as 50 feet. One used its radar to identify the plane as a target, but there was no hostile Fire, he said. Davis said it was the first such incident since 1969, when a North Korean plane shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121 sur veillance plane, killing all 31 Americans aboard. In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush “bel ieves u This Foal Eagle exercise is escalating the danger of armed clashes on the Korean Peninsula. — Minju Joson, North Korean newspaper that the issue of North Korea can be handled diplomati cally.” “This is a matter that we will protest and we’re talk ing to our allies “If the eagle swoops down on us, a nuclear war will break out and it is clear that the whole Korean nation will not escape nuclear holocaust,” said the report, which was moni tored by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. North Korea routinely con demns such exercises, but the belligerent rhetoric and the interception of the American plane come amid fears the North could make nuclear bombs within months. U.S. military officials say the annual maneuver is “defense-oriented” and is not related to the nuclear dispute. Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said four North Korean fighter jets had about best manner to do that,” Fleischer said, adding that “North Korea continues to engage in provocative, and now reckless actions. And North Korea engages in these actions as a way of saying, pay me. That will not happen.” In a commentary. North Korea’s Minju Joson described Bush as “a political illiterate and a shameless impostor who has dull senses of the times.” The newspaper also appealed to South Koreans, who host 37,000 U.S. soldiers on their soil, to join North Korea in resisting the United States. The interception of the U.S. plane appeared to be part of an effort to pressure the United States into negotiations on chief North Korean aims: a nonaggression treaty and economic aid. “The reckless move is a signal to the United States at a time when Washington pays little attention to North Korea’s repeated demand for direct dialogue,” said Lee Suk-soo, a military studies professor at the National Defense College in Seoul. North Korea on Tuesday reiterated its demand for a nonaggression pact, saying through Radio Pyongyang that it was "to remove an unreasonable U.S. threat, not to gain something.” The radio was monitored by Yonhap. Washington, which is preparing for a possible war against Iraq, says it will not be blackmailed into conces sions and that North Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons are a multilateral issue. The U.N. Security Council is expected to debate the matter. North Korea test-fired a missile into the sea off its east coast on the eve of South Korean President Roh Moo- hyun’s inauguration last week. On Feb. 20. a North Korean MiG-19 warplane crossed over the South’s western sea border, but retreated after South Korean jets flew to the area. Last week, U.S. officials said North Korea had restarted a nuclear reactor that is at the center of a suspected weapons program. The reactor could yield enough plutonium for an atomic bomb in about a year, experts say. North Korea, which has warned a U.S. attack on its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon would trigger war, could also decide to reactivate a repro- N. Korea jets intercept U.S. plane Four North Korean fighter jets approached the U.S. Air Force RC-135S plane over the Sea of Japan on Sunday, coming as close as 50 feet. NORTH KOREA Sea of Japan S. KOREA East CHINA China Sea JAPAN Okinawa Kadena Air Base RC-135 Length: 135 feet Wingspan: 131 feet SOURCES: ESRI; Associated Press; AP U.S. Air Force; Jane's Information Group T I N U M “Never cease to amaze her. Always exceed her greatest expectations. ’ •. 1 h-*-■ i , NER'S Jewelers ♦ Gemologists 522 University Drive E • Between The Suit Club and Audio/Video 764-8786 THE BATTALION Filipino explosion kills 19, injures 147 By Oliver Teves THE ASSOCIATED PRESS cessing facility near the reac tor. Such a move could allow it to make several nuclear bombs within months, according to defense analysts. The United States believes the North already has one or two nuclear bombs. North Korean complaints about reconnaissance flights by U.S. planes had grown more frequent before the incident Sunday. On Saturday, the North said a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane intruded into its airspace off the east coast daily for a week. The current nuclear dispute began in October when U.S. officials said the North acknowledged it had a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement. Washington and its allies suspended oil shipments and North Korea responded by moving to reactivate frozen nuclear facilities and with drawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. MANILA, Philippines — A bomb planted inside a backpack ripped through an airport tenni- nal in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people — including an American missionary — and injuring 147 in the nation’s worst terrorist attack in three years. The blast comes at a time of heightened debate over the role of U.S. troops in the war on terror in the Philippines, where Muslim insurgents have battled the government for decades with attacks, bombings and kidnappings. Three Americans — a Southern Baptist missionary and her two young children — were among the wounded. Many of the injured were in serious condition, and officials feared the death toll could rise. The dead included a boy, a girl, 10 men and seven women. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who invited U.S. troops to help train Filipino soldiers in counterterrorism later this year, said the bombing at Davao air port on Mindanao island was “a brazen act of terrorism which shall not go unpunished.” President Bush condemned the attack as a “wanton terror ist act” and sent condolences to the people of the Philippines, his press secretary Ari Fleischer said. “The president notes that the bombing underscores the seri ousness of the terrorist threat in the southern Philippines, and he emphasizes that the Philippines have been a stalwart partner of the United States in the war against terror,” Fleischer said. No one claimed responsibili ty for the blast, but Arroyo said “several men” were detained. The military has blamed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels for a string of attacks, including a car bombing at nearby Cotabato airport last month that killed one man. Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the rebel group, which has been fighting for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines for than three decades, denied In group was responsible. He coir demned the attack and said! group was ready to cooperatei: an investigation, Police said the bombwa hidden inside a backpackpta- ed in the middle of the airport! la®; waiting area. The bla heard three miles away;s the debris landed on the 100 yards away. The Southern Convention’s Intematiom Mission Board in Va., confirmed that William P. Hyde, 59, ofCetk Rapids, Iowa, died in surgen from head and leg injuries. Hyde had gone to them port to meet American mis sionaries Barbara Wii Stevens and Mark Stevens ait; their family, who were arrived from Manila when! bomb went off. 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But there are States to know S ing to bomb his SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI Bush administration: U.S. gaining in war on terro: Tanks runr campus a s In response to WASHINGTON (AP) — New terrorism indictments and ab al-Qaida capture show the United States gaining ground in thegk* al war on terrorism, three top Bush administration officials! Congress on Tuesday. Facing a Senate Judiciary Committee that includes promi# 1 administration critics, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Homel® Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Muet highlighted recent successes and stressed prevention efforts. Lawmakers applauded the victories — but many questioned government’s tactics and the need to expand anti-terrorism lawsl already raise constitutional questions. Ashcroft said the weekend capture in Pakistan of al-Qaida ations chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was “a severe blow”! could “destabilize their terrorist network worldwide” by providi a trove of intelligence that will prevent new attacks. He also announced that a Yemeni cleric and an assistant charged in New York with helping finance al-Qaida. The cleif Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad, personally Osama bin Laden $20 million to finance the terrorist Ashcroft said. To date, more than 200 criminal terrorism charges have ttf brought since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Ashcroft said, 108 convictions or guilty pleas. FBI Director Robert Muellerad! ; that “well in excess of 10” terrorism plots have been worldwide. The recent successes muted growing critcism on Capitol Hi about the slow progress on the war on terrorism. The conctf reached a high point last month when a new bin Laden surfaced and the nation was put on high alert for a possibly i nent terrorist attack. NEWS IN BRIEF Texas seeks notaries abusing immigrants DALLAS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Tuesday said his office is cracking down on notaries public who misrepre sent themselves as legal profes sionals to scam money out of thousands of immigrants — a practice that was specifically out lawed two years ago. He said con artists prey on Hispanic victims who confuse the English term "notary" and the Spanish term "notario." Some people with notary public licens es from the state unlawfullypf* ent themselves as "notaries lico," which in Mexico are licensed attorneys. Abbott said such notaries disappear with their dW money, charge high feesforfif unnecessary documents orpf [ form poor-quality services W jeopardize immigration cases. Abbott said victims who co^ forward will not be question! about their country of origin 11, immigration status. He uf anyone who believes tlie/tf been victimized by such scanis !e call (800) 252-8011. It's 3:10 p.m. Ti am working in c administer. 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