SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is making final preparations to conduct its fourth nuclear test, South Korea's defense minister said Thursday, but he added that it could be a bluff.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told South Korean journalists that North Korea is able to detonate a nuclear device at any moment, though he didn't elaborate on what the final step of its preparations would be, according to ministry officials.

Kim also said that although North Korea is ready to conduct a nuclear test, it may not intend to set off the device soon, and instead is trying to trick outside observers into believing a test is imminent, the officials said, requesting anonymity under department rules.

North Korea has threatened in recent weeks to conduct a nuclear test to protest what it calls U.S. and South Korean hostility and international condemnation over its rocket and missile tests earlier this year. South Korea has warned North Korea would face serious consequences if the test is made.

Pyongyang has called for the resumption of long-dormant international aid-for-disarmament talks, but Washington and Seoul say the North must first move toward disarmament. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons as a deterrent against U.S. military threats.

Many North Korea watchers had suspected a nuclear test would occur when President Barack Obama visited Seoul last month, but nothing happened. Analysts remain divided over whether North Korea will go ahead with a test soon.

View gallery

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok speaks about the outcome of a government inv …

A fourth test would mark another defiant response to U.S.-led international pressures on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program. North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Western experts believe North Korea has a handful of rudimentary bombs, though it's not yet believed to be capable of producing warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile that could threaten the U.S. Another nuclear test could put the North a step closer to that goal.

Recent months have seen animosities flare up on the Korean Peninsula with Pyongyang conducting a barrage of rocket and missile tests and resuming fierce rhetoric against Seoul and Washington. Before then, the North had been gradually dialing down its threats and seeking improved ties with South Korea in what foreign analysts said was an attempt to lure investment and aid.

On Thursday, Seoul's Defense Ministry announced that a joint investigation by South Korea and the U.S. concluded that three drones found in the South in March and April were flown by North Korea on military surveillance missions. A ministry statement called the drone flights a military provocation and said South Korea will react strongly. North Korea has denied it sent such drones and accused South Korea of plotting a fabrication.

South Korean defense officials said the drones are considered crude and low-tech but that it's the first time North Korean drones have been found crashed in South Korea.

The two Koreas are divided along the world's most heavily armed border since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are deployed in South Korea as buttress against potential North Korean aggression.

A year ago, Pyongyang made a torrent of threats to launch nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington in protest of U.N. sanctions that were toughened following its third bomb test.

View Gallery

Seoul: N. Korea makes final prep for nuke test

Pyongyang is ready to test an atomic device at any moment — if it decides to do it.
Why it could be a trick

Russia displays its might amid Ukrainian crisis

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia showed off its military muscle Friday in the annual Red Square parade marking victory over Nazi Germany, at a time when the world's attention is focused on Ukraine where pro-Russian insurgents are preparing a referendum on secession.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin made no reference to the situation in Ukraine in a speech before the parade, focusing on the historic importance of the victory over Nazi Germany. But in a sign of triumph over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's region of Crimea, parading troops included a marine unit from the Black Sea Fleet that flew the Crimean flag on its armored personnel carriers.

About 11,000 Russian troops proudly marched across Red Square to the tunes of marches and patriotic songs, followed by columns of dozens of tanks and rocket launchers. About 70 combat aircraft, including giant nuclear-capable strategic bombers, roared overhead.

Crimea, which hosts a major Russian Black Sea Fleet base, is also set to hold a massive navy parade in the port of Sevastopol, celebrating the Russian takeover.

Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday and a key element of the national identity, honoring the armed forces and the millions who died in World War II. This year it comes as Russia is locked in the worst crisis with the West since the end of the Cold War.

The parade, which featured massive Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, comes a day after Putin visited the Defense Ministry's main operational center to watch a massive military exercise that simulated a retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack. The official statements describing the maneuvers were strikingly blunt, reflecting simmering tensions with the West.

The West and the Ukrainian government accuse Russia of fomenting the unrest in Ukraine's east, where insurgents have seized government buildings in a dozen of cities and towns, and fought with government troops. They have set a referendum on independence for Sunday, a vote similar to a plebiscite that paved the way for Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March.

Putin's surprise call on Wednesday for delaying the referendum in eastern Ukraine appeared to reflect Russia's desire to distance itself from the separatists as it bargains with the West over a settlement to the Ukrainian crisis.

But insurgents in the Russian-speaking east defied Putin's call and said they would go ahead with the referendum. While reflecting the anger against the central government shared by many in the east, the move also supported Moscow's denial of engineering the mutiny.

The main eastern city of Donetsk was calm as a handful of veterans gathered to commemorate Victory Day, carrying former regiment flags and playing old patriotic songs.

In the Black Sea port of Odessa, which last week was rocked by violent clashes between pro-Russian forces and supporters of the central government that left nearly 50 people died, police arrested a municipal legislator and two pro-Russian activists accused of staging the riots.

Authorities also beefed up security in the city, fearing more violence, and the local governor issued an order banning public display of Russian flags. "We shouldn't allow emotions to spill into the streets," Gov. Ihor Palytsa said.

In Kiev on Friday, a fire in a cable tunnel briefly interrupted broadcasts of several television channels. Viktoria Syumar, a deputy head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that the fire was an act of sabotage.

Putin said Wednesday that Russia had withdrawn its forces from the Ukrainian border, but Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said Thursday there had been no evidence of a pullback.

Russia wants Ukraine to adopt a new constitution that would give broad powers to its regions, helping Moscow to keep the country's east in its orbit. It also has sought guarantees that Ukraine would not join NATO. Ukraine has rejected the Russian demands.

Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, offered a roadmap for settling the crisis during his meeting with Putin this week, but it hasn't been made public yet.

The OSCE's Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier visited Kiev Friday. He told The Associated Press that "we are now looking at how we can move ahead on process of de-escalation." Zannier criticized the referendum in the east, calling it a "divisive initiative."

"The OSCE will certainly not recognize the referendum of this kind," he said.

The United States and the European Union have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on members of Putin's entourage in response to the annexation of Crimea. They threatened to introduce harsher sanctions if Russia continues to destabilize eastern Ukraine and tries to derail the May 25 presidential vote.

Despite the sanctions, Putin is set to travel to France in early June for a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that hastened the end of World War II, his first encounter with Western leaders since the start of the Ukrainian crisis.

__

Yuras Karmanau in Odessa, Ed Brown in Donetsk and Mark Rachkevych in Kiev contributed to this report.

Russia shows off military might on Victory Day

Thousands of troops march on Red Square to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany amid tensions in Ukraine.
Insurgents plan vote

Known for issuing inflammatory remarks through the state media, Pyongyang takes things to a whole new level.
'It's disgusting'

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry blamed the United States on Friday for stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea by encouraging countries to engage in dangerous behavior, following an uptick in tensions between China and both the Philippines and Vietnam.

China this week accused Vietnam of intentionally colliding with its ships in the South China Sea after Vietnam asserted that Chinese vessels used water cannon and rammed eight of its vessels at the weekend near an oil rig.

The United States has called China's deployment of the rig "provocative and unhelpful" to security in the region, urging restraint on all sides.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated that the waters the rig was operating in, around the Paracel Islands, were Chinese territory and that no other country had the right to interfere.

"It must be pointed out that the recent series of irresponsible and wrong comments from the United States which neglect the facts about the relevant waters have encouraged certain countries' dangerous and provocative behavior," Hua told a daily news briefing.

"We urge the United States to act in accordance with maintaining the broader picture of regional peace and security, and act and speak cautiously on the relevant issue, stop making irresponsible remarks and do more to maintain regional peace and stability," she added.

View gallery

In this Sunday, May 4, 2014 image made from video released by Vietnam Coast Guard, a Chinese coast g …

Tensions are also brewing in another part of the sea, with Beijing demanding that the Philippines release a Chinese fishing boat and its crew seized on Tuesday off Half Moon Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

Philippine police said the boat and its crew were seized for hunting sea turtles, which are protected under local laws.

Hua said the Philippines' actions were illegal as they had entered Chinese waters to seize the boat and its crew.

"We once more demand the Philippines immediately release them unconditionally ... China reserves the right to take further action," she said, without elaborating.

Manila says the Chinese boat was seized 60 miles off Palawan island, within a 200-mile (320-kilometre) exclusive economic zone declared by the Philippines.

The incident coincided with annual war games this week in the Philippines involving 5,500 American and Filipino soldiers and marines, focusing on maritime security.

Up in the northern Zambales coastline, Philippine and U.S. marines, in rubber boats, assaulted an isolated beach in a mock battle to test the combat readiness of the two oldest allies in Asia-Pacific region.

They also conducted a staff exercise focused on maritime security, responding to a simulated attack on a gas platform and pipeline in western Palawan island.

"We are only testing our contingency plans. This is purely simulations. We are not talking of any particular third country involved in the attack," said a senior Philippine naval officer, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts or all of the oil and gas rich waters from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Last month, the Philippines and United States signed a new security pact allowing American forces wider access to local bases and to build storage facilities as part of U.S. President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia policy.

Obama, during a two-day visit to Manila, promised "ironclad" commitment to defend the Philippines, a former American colony, from external aggression.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

View Gallery

China levels blame at U.S. for rising tensions

Beijing says Washington encourages other countries' risky behavior, leading to drama in the South China Sea.
Reasserts territory claim

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — British experts arrived in the Nigerian capital on Friday to help find at least 276 girls being held by Islamic militants in northeastern Nigeria as an international effort began taking hold.

The experts were expected to work closely with U.S. officials and agents in the search for the missing girls, the British government said as Boko Haram militants continued to stage attacks in northeastern Nigeria. China and France have also promised help, and the deputy prime minister of Spain, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, told reporters in Madrid on Friday that her government had decided to make available a specialist team from the police to assist, if Nigeria approves.

Britain said its aim was not only to help with the current crisis but to defeat Boko Haram.

"The team will be considering not just the recent incidents but also longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future and defeat Boko Haram," the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said in a statement Friday.

A local government official confirmed that the Islamic extremists bombed a bridge linking the town of Gamboru to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, the headquarters of the Nigerian military offensive. Gamboru was attacked on Monday by Boko Haram, leaving many dead. Estimates of the death toll from that attack ranged from 100 to as many as 300.

Communications with the remote town are difficult and it was not immediately possible to reconcile conflicting accounts of when the bridge was bombed. One account said Monday while another said Thursday.

View gallery

Mia Kuumba, of the District of Columbia, brandishes a wooden stick during a rally in front of the Ni …

The bombing of the bridge would prevent army convoys reaching Gamboru while leaving the way open for the insurgents to escape across a strategic bridge into neighboring Cameroon — a bridge leading into mountains where the militants are known to have hideouts in caves.

The mass kidnapping of the schoolgirls has focused the world's attention on Boko Haram, and on the many civilian victims of the extremists.

President Goodluck Jonathan said at an economic forum on Thursday: "I believe that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of terror in Nigeria."

However his government stands accused of being slow to mount operations to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped on April 15.

Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law on Nigeria, abducted more than 300 girls from a boarding school in the northeast town of Chibok. On Thursday the government of Borno state, where Chibok is located, identified 53 girls who escaped, potentially subjecting the girls to stigma in this conservative society.

The government said in a statement received Friday that the 53 girls it identified by name include those who fled the day they were kidnapped and those who escaped from Boko Haram camps days later.

Borno's government did not explain the decision to name the girls.

Chibok residents are staging a street protest Friday to press Borno's government to do more to find the missing girls.

Boko Haram has killed more than 1,500 people this year.

__

Associated Press writer Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.