S.Korean leader vows 'resolute' response to ship sinking

Asian Defense News: SEOUL — South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak vowed Monday a "resolute" response to the sinking of a warship last month after North Korea broke weeks of silence to angrily deny involvement in the disaster.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak wipes his eyes as he delivers a speech about the sunken naval ship Cheonan

However, efforts to salvage the still-submerged bow of the ship hit a snag when one of the chains lifting it from the Yellow Sea snapped because of high waves and strong currents, the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

South Korean officials say an external explosion caused the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-tonne corvette, which killed 46 sailors in the nation's deadliest peacetime naval tragedy.

"I, as president, will find out the cause of the Cheonan's sinking in full and in detail," Lee said in an emotional speech on public radio.

"I will deal with the results in an unwavering and resolute way, and make sure that such an incident will never recur."

Tearfully reciting the names of all the perished sailors, Lee said: "Your fatherland, which you loved, will never forget you."

South Korea has not directly blamed the communist North for the sinking near their tense maritime border.

But on Sunday, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said the UN Security Council could become involved if Pyongyang is found to have played a role.

Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young has raised the possibility that a mine or torpedo may have hit the Cheonan.

But after weeks of silence, the North's official news agency KCNA said Saturday "the South's puppet military and right-wing conservative politicians are now making a foolish attempt to link the tragedy to us".

"The reason that the South's puppets are claiming the North's involvement is also linked to their foolish efforts to put pressure on us, even by stirring up international opinion in favor of sanctions," KCNA said.

Yoon Duk-Yong, co-head of the South's investigation team, said Friday that the warship appeared to have received a powerful impact on the port side, where steel plate was curved inwards.

He ruled out an onboard blast or a shipwreck.

Seoul has launched an international investigation involving US, Australian and Swedish experts in a bid to ensure the eventual findings cannot be disputed.

Navy officials said the investigators were at a naval base south of Seoul, looking into the Cheonan's recovered stern and debris for more clues.

"Up to now, no other debris -- except the warship wreckage -- have been found," Seoul's defence ministry spokesman Won Tae-Jae said Monday.

However, salvage operations were hampered when one of three chains around the bow of the ship snapped on Sunday, officials said.

"It appears the chain could not withstand the tension from high waves," naval officer Park Sung-woo said.

An expanded 12-strong US team of experts led by Rear Admiral Thomas J. Eccles were joining the investigation at the naval base in Pyeongtake, 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Seoul, the defence ministry said.

It said the US team included three experts who had investigated the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in Yemen.

Analysts have said the incident could harm diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading North Korea back to six-party nuclear disarmament talks that the communist state quit a year ago.

The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval clashes between the North and South in 1999 and 2002 and of a firefight last November that left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

Thai Soldiers, Protesters Face-Off in Commercial District

Asian Defense News: In the Thai capital Bangkok hundreds of soldiers and riot police have taken up positions in a main commercial district popular with tourists. The heavy security was mobilized to prevent anti-government protesters, who have been demonstrating over a month now, from marching on the area.

Photo: AP

Thai government supporters cheer and wave flags to welcome Thai soldiers who arrived to try to secure Bangkok's central business district, Thailand, 19 Apr 2010

Soldiers armed with assault rifles and police in riot gear massed early Monday morning on Silom Road.

They spread rolls of razor wire across parts of the sidewalks and took up positions on the street and overpasses, and briefly blocked traffic.

Anti-government protesters threatened to march on the area, which the government says it will not allow.

But by mid morning only a hundred or so red-dressed protesters danced and cheered in front of barricades while traffic flowed normally and businesses were open.

Sean Boonpracong is the international spokesman for the protesters, known as the red shirts. He says they called off the march.

"There will not be a march on Silom today. But, we reserve that option to do it other when we feel like," he said. "We want to exercise our freedom of passage, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and we feel like … but it's not need to risk anybody hurt or killed over this."

Although the march was called off, soldiers and riot police did not immediately pull back and razor wire remained in place.

The military presence raised concerns of another violent clash in Bangkok.

On April 10, 24 people were killed and hundreds injured when soldiers tried, and failed, to clear protesters from the city's historic district.

Both sides have blamed the other for the violence.

The red shirt protesters are mainly from the countryside and have been demonstrating for weeks demanding new elections. They have occupied a major commercial district, blocking traffic and forcing shopping malls and hotels to close their doors.

They say Bangkok elites overthrew their democratically elected leaders in the 2006 coup against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He lives in exile to avoid serving jail time for a corruption conviction.

Politically charged court rulings removed successive governments close to Mr. Thaksin in 2008, and parliament elected the current government.

The government offered to hold elections in nine months and says it is willing to negotiate with protesters. But, protest leaders say they are done negotiating and will continue pressuring the government to immediately step down.

Indonesian park official: 2 rare elephants killed

Asian Defense News: JAKARTA, Indonesia – Two endangered elephants found dead on Indonesia's Sumatra island are believed to be the victims of poachers targeting the animals for their prized ivory tusks, a park official said Monday.

Hayani Suprahman, the head of Tesso Nelo National Park in Riau province, said Monday that the body of a 5-year-old male Sumatran elephant was discovered late Saturday with its tusks cut off with a saw. A second elephant, a 7-year-old male, was found Sunday about 100 yards (meters) away from where the first had been discovered, he said.

A preliminary investigation showed that the two elephants may have been deliberately poisoned by cyanide, he said.

"I believe that poachers are behind the elephant killings for money," Suprahman said.

Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 under a U.N. convention, but the black market in Indonesia pays about $2,200 per 2.2 pounds (kilogram) and even higher on international markets, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

Samples of the two animals have been sent to a laboratory to confirm the cause of the death, Suprahman said.

Two weeks earlier, another male elephant was killed near the Bengkalis district of Riau province, and its tusks were also removed. Police are investigating, though no arrests have been made.

Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild, a number that dwindles each year with poaching.

Last year, a dozen elephants were killed on Sumatra, while 18 were found dead in 2008, Suprahman said. Forensic tests showed some had eaten cyanide-laced pineapples while others had been shot in the head.

Bomb attacks kill six in Afghanistan

Asian Defense News: KABUL (AFP) - – A string of roadside bomb attacks killed six civilians and wounded five children in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, authorities said on Sunday.

Six civilians were killed in two separate bomb explosions in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday, the interior ministry said in a statement.

They were killed when they drove over the devices, it said, blaming the attacks on insurgents.

Bomb attacks kill six in Afghanistan

In a separate but similar bomb blast five children were wounded in Herat province, in the west of the country, it said.

The children were playing in Angil district when the buried device went off, it said.

The statement did not give more details about the bombings but it blamed the attacks on Taliban insurgents.

Improvised bombs are a favourite weapon of the militants fighting to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul.

There are about 120,000 troops under NATO and US command in Afghanistan battling the Taliban-led insurgency now in its ninth year, with troop numbers expected to swell to 150,000 within months.

Rare glimpse of Hmong in Laos fails to quell concerns

Asian Defense News: PHONKHAM VILLAGE, Laos (AFP) - – A small, woollen-hatted woman, one of thousands of ethnic Hmong recently expelled from Thailand, creeps up to the row of rare foreign visitors in her new Laotian village.

"I want to go to another country," she whispers to the diplomats and journalists, who have been invited by the communist government for a tightly-monitored trip to this remote, newly-built community.

Rare glimpse of Hmong in Laos fails to quell concerns

"I don't feel good here in the village," says the 50-year-old, while the Laotian army's deputy chief, Brigadier General Bouasieng Champaphan, is delivering a rather different message to the audience.

"All the returnees are calm and stable and satisfied that they have returned to live in their home country again," he says. "They are very pleased and satisfied with the government's assistance."

Thailand faced a barrage of international criticism in December when it used troops to forcibly repatriate about 4,500 Hmong from camps in the country's north back to Laos, despite concerns of persecution on their return.

The Hmong's fear of retribution from the Laotian regime is a lingering remnant of the Vietnam War, when members of the ethnic hill tribe fought in a US-funded irregular army as the conflict secretly spilled into Laos.

After the communists took power in 1975, some Hmong hid in the jungle and fought a low-level insurgency against the regime. Hundreds of thousands of Lao and Hmong fled the country.

Though Thailand insisted all the Hmong recently sent back to Laos were illegal economic migrants, the United Nations recognised 158 of them as refugees, but was never allowed to assess if the thousands of others needed international protection.

While diplomats say there have been no reports of mistreatment, suspicions remain about the Hmong's rights and living standards in Phonkham village, which was built specifically for the group in central Bolikhamsay province.

"They've put them on a Laos equivalent of a desert island," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "There's no sustained access to these people or quality of access."

Laotian officials said 3,457 of the repatriated Hmong were sent to Phonkham, while others went back to their home towns.

Laos said it would grant the international community's request for "free and unfettered" access to the returnees within 30 days of their repatriation, but so far visits have been scarce, brief and strictly monitored.

On the latest two-hour visit Friday, foreign diplomats, reporters and a few UN representatives were among those escorted in two helicopters from the Laotian capital Vientiane, a 45-minute flight away.

The delegation was ushered straight to an unfinished village hall to be greeted by smiling youngsters in traditional Hmong dress, before a briefing by central government and Phonkham officials.

"In the beginning of their resettlement... they were afraid because of not being familiar with their new environment and not understanding the Lao government's policies," said Bounthan Douangtanya of the village administration committee.

"But the authorities have conducted an education course for these returnees in order to... make them understand the policy regulations," he said, before detailing plans to develop the village infrastructure.

Diplomats were given a brief but revealing chance to question the 300 or so Hmong gathered in the hall.

How many had been outside of the village since arriving? One hand went up in response. How many had received money, parcels or anything else from contacts outside the village? Two. How many had yet received ID cards or official registration? None.

As the meeting ended, several of the Hmong approached their visitors, saying they wanted to leave. "I want to go to Canada," one 16-year-old girl told AFP, in English, as tears welled in her eyes.

She said she was one of the 158 recognised refugees who have been offered resettlement in Canada, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands. Embassies have been told by Laos that these people now want to stay.

One diplomat on the trip said that the Hmong who "explicitly" expressed a desire to leave "seemed to be demonstrating courage in coming to talk to us, despite the best efforts of the authorities to stage-manage the situation".

But the visit was "altogether not too bad," another Western diplomat said. "Obviously the transparency of the dialogue was limited," he added.

Brigadier General Bouasieng said foreign countries willing to assist the village should contact the government in Laos, which is one of Asia's poorest countries.

There are hopes that such aid, if allowed, would facilitate more openness about the Hmong.

"I think (the Laotian authorities) are going to struggle to support them. The trade-off is: if they want donations, they must give access," said Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

Rights groups say they have serious concerns about availability of clean water, food and medical treatment for the group.

"As long as access is strictly scripted and stage-managed, visitors will not be able to assess the well-being of the returnees," said Brittis Edman of Amnesty International.

Philippine troops capture key Abu Sayyaf camp

Asian Defense News: MANILA, Philippines – Philippine troops, backed by artillery and helicopter fire, have captured a key jungle camp of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group and may have killed several militants during a two-day assault, military officials said Sunday.

Marines and army troops captured the jungle encampment in Jolo island's mountainous Patikul township Friday with the help of U.S. military intelligence, regional military chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said. About 50 Abu Sayyaf fighters led by ailing commander Radulan Sahiron fled and were pursued by troops, he said.

Terrorism: Abu Sayyef and the CIA

It may be that that the blood of the American wage-slave is so contaminated with the poisons he consumes and breathes that he can't think straight. That's my theory. He has adopted a reverse perspective on himself and the world - liberalism is "fascism," war crimes/repression/torture "protect our liberties," the CIA is battling a war "against" terrorism ... - AC

" ... Abu Sayyaf members ... were initially recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency as mujahideens to fight the U.S. proxy war in Afghanistan ... They were trained by AFP officers in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and other remote areas in Mindanao ... The arms and funds came from U.S. covert operations connected with the CIA ... "

Two marines were wounded and several Abu Sayyaf fighters were believed killed as troops pursued the militants in an offensive that ended Sunday. At least one body of an Abu Sayyaf fighter killed in the assault was dug up by troops, he said.

Dozens of army scout rangers were flown aboard air force helicopters to help pursue the militants, who were also targeted by artillery and helicopter fire, he said.

Sahiron, a one-armed commander who suffers from diabetes and other ailments, apparently survived. Washington has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing.

Dolorfino said the camp, which was ringed with foxholes, may have also housed members of the Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiyah because of the unusually tight security.

"They were frisking even their own members before being allowed entry there," Dolorfino said, citing military intelligence. "We believe many of them were killed in the pursuit operation."

Troops recovered a homemade bomb and assorted ammunition in the camp and destroyed its foxholes, the military said.

The Philippine army believes that up to 25 foreign militants may be hiding in Abu Sayyaf strongholds on jungle-clad Jolo, a predominantly Muslim island 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of Manila.

Newly appointed military chief Gen. Delfin Bangit has ordered renewed offensives against the Abu Sayyaf in the next two months in a bid to wipe it out.

The Abu Sayyaf, founded in 1991, has been blamed for bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings. It has reportedly given sanctuary to Indonesian terror suspects, including Dulmatin, a key suspect in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings who was recently killed by police in Indonesia.

Washington has listed the Abu Sayyaf, which has nearly 400 fighters, as a terrorist organization. U.S.-backed offensives have killed or captured many of its commanders in recent years, leaving the group without an overall leader to unify its factions on Jolo, nearby Basilan island and the Zamboanga peninsula.

Chile tsunami costs Japanese fisheries $68 mln

Asian Defense News: TOKYO (AFP) - – The Pacific-wide tsunami generated by the massive undersea earthquake off Chile's coast last month caused 68 million dollars of damage to Japan's fishing industry, a report said Saturday.

Scallop, oyster and seaweed farms off the northeast coast of Japan were hit when waves up to 1.45 metres high smashed into Japan following the quake thousands of kilometres (miles) away.

Chile tsunami costs Japanese fisheries $68 mln

More than six billion yen of damage was caused to the facilities, Kyodo News reported, citing fisheries industry officials.

Local authorities were asking the central government to provide a package of support measures to help businesses to recover, Kyodo said.

Japanese authorities ordered more than half a million people to evacuate seaside areas as the wave bore down on Japan. However, no deaths or injuries were reported from the tsunamis.

The 8.8-magnitude quake, one of the most powerful on record, struck along the coast south of Santiago on February 27, causing widespread death and destruction.