China rebukes North Korea, says no state should sow chaos

North Korean soldiers with military dogs take part in drills in an unknown location in this picture taken on April 6, 2013 and released by North Korea's official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang on April 7, 2013. REUTERS/KCNA

By Ben Blanchard and Jane Chung

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - China's leaders issued thinly veiled rebukes to North Korea for raising regional tensions, with the president saying no country should throw the world into chaos and the foreign minister warning that Beijing would not allow mischief on its doorstep.

The weekend comments were the strongest yet by China in response to more than a month of North Korean rhetoric that has included threats to launch a nuclear attack on the United States and to wage war with Seoul.

No country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain", President Xi Jinping told a forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. He did not name North Korea but he appeared to refer to Pyongyang.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said Xi's comments were unprecedented.

"It suggests to me, as I've watched the ratcheting up of frustration among Chinese leaders over the last many years, that they've probably hit the 212-degree boiling point as it relates to North Korea," he told CNN on Sunday.

North Korea kicked off its latest round of threats after U.N. sanctions were imposed for its February 12 nuclear test, the country's third.

Despite the rhetoric, Pyongyang has not taken any military action and has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong army for war, indicating the threats are partly intended for domestic consumption to bolster young leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korean media said on Friday the North had moved two medium-range missiles to its east coast, but there has been no confirmation of such a move. Washington has said it would not be surprised if the North conducted another missile test.

North Korean authorities have told diplomatic missions in Pyongyang they could not guarantee their safety from Wednesday - after saying conflict was inevitable amid joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month. Staff at embassies appeared to be remaining in place over the weekend.

South Korea said it was ready for any kind of action - including a possible missile launch - by Wednesday.

Analysts are also looking ahead to April 15, the birthday of the late Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founder and the grandfather of its current leader. The anniversary is a time of mass celebrations and occasional demonstrations of military prowess.

CHINA SAYS WON'T ALLOW TROUBLE-MAKING

China, North Korea's sole financial and diplomatic backer, has shown growing irritation with Pyongyang.

Beijing negotiated the new U.N. sanctions with Washington and has said it wanted them implemented. The measures tighten financial curbs on North Korea, order mandatory checks of suspicious cargo and strengthen a ban on luxury goods entering the country.

"We oppose provocative words and actions from any party in the region and do not allow trouble-making on China's doorstep," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, according to a ministry statement on its website late on Saturday, relating a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

On Sunday, the ministry expressed "grave concern" at rising tension and said China had asked North Korea to "ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and norms".

No expert on North Korea has suggested China would abandon Kim or even implement the new sanctions to the letter, but China appears to have run out of patience after years of trying to coax Pyongyang out of isolation and to embrace economic reform.

China's new leaders, including Xi, do not have the emotional ties to North Korea that their predecessors had.

The 30-year old Kim has also failed to pay fealty to China as his father, Kim Jong-il, and his grandfather did, according to North Korean experts. He has not visited China since taking over when his father died at the end of 2011.

U.S. LAWMAKERS SAY CHINA HAS NOT DONE ENOUGH

U.S. politicians said China should do more.

Republican Senator John McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized China's "failure to rein in what could be a catastrophic situation" and said Beijing could step up pressure by using its influence over North Korea's economy.

"Chinese behaviour has been very disappointing," McCain said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.

"More than once, wars have started by accident and this is a very serious situation," he added.

The United States said it was postponing a missile test to help calm high tension on the Korean peninsula.

In Washington, a defence official said a long-scheduled test of the Minuteman III intercontinental missile, due to take place at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, would be postponed.

"This test ... has been delayed to avoid any misperception or miscalculation in light of recent tensions on the Korean peninsula," the official said on Saturday.

The South Korean president's office said the country had a "firm military readiness" for any eventuality.

It described as "planned behaviour" the North's call for South Korean workers to leave the Kaesong joint industrial park, just inside North Korea, and for diplomats to evacuate Pyongyang by Wednesday. Pyongyang has blocked entry to the factory park since last Wednesday, jeopardizing one of its few sources of hard currency.

The North has always condemned the annual joint military exercises off the South Korean coast, but its rhetoric has been especially furious this year as the United States sent nuclear-capable stealth bombers from their home bases.

North Korean state television showed a military training session, with soldiers putting dogs through their paces, including one seen tearing to pieces an effigy of South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin. Soldiers were shown firing at pictures of the minister and a depiction of a U.S. serviceman.

"As you all know, on the Korean peninsula, it is not a matter of whether we will have a war or not, but whether it will take place today or tomorrow," an unidentified soldier said.

(Writing by Dean Yates; Additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing in Hainan and Phil Stewart, David Morgan, Aruna Viswanatha and Mark Felsenthal in Washington; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


Article: U.S. lawmakers say China has failed to rein in North Korea

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‘I Don’t Understand It’: McCain Blasts GOP Threat to Filibuster Gun Bill

Sen. John McCain on Sunday once again found himself at odds with Republican colleagues Rand Paul and Ted Cruz when he slammed their intention to filibuster any gun legislation.

"I don't understand it," the Arizona Republican said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand."

A number of GOP senators, including Paul (Ky.), Cruz (Texas), Mike Lee of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida, signed a letter toSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) vowing to filibusterany gun bills.

"I don't understand it," McCain repeated. "What are we afraid of?...If this issue is as important as all of us think it is...why not take it up and debate?"

He added that "everybody wants the same goal, to keep the guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally disabled."

McCain previously ran afoul of the group when he referred to them as "wacko birds" following Paul's filibuster John Brennan's confirmation as CIA director.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), also on "Face the Nation" agreed that it would be "very wrong" to filibuster and said senators should at least be allowed to debate.

"Please let us go to the floor," Schumer said. "If we go to the floor, I'm still hopeful that what I call the sweet spot, background checks, can succeed...hopefully people will rise to the occasion."

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US diplomat killed in Afghanistan wanted to help

CHICAGO (AP) — A young U.S. diplomat killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan was an up-and-coming public servant who loved working directly with Afghan residents, those who knew her said Sunday.

Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer, died Saturday when the group she was traveling with was struck by an explosion in southern Zabul province. They were en route to traveling to donate textbooks to students.

The Chicago-area woman is the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.

Those who knew Smedinghoff described her as a positive, hard-working and dependable young woman.

While a student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, she worked part time for Sam Hopkins, an attorney near campus. He described her as ambitious "but in a wonderfully quiet modest way."

Anne Smedinghoff's parents said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that their daughter joined the foreign service straight out of college. But she had showed an early interest in foreign affairs and was one of the key organizers of the university's annual Foreign Affairs Symposium in 2008, a weekslong event that brings high-profile speakers to campus.

"She was an exceptional woman," said Hopkins, who kept in touch with Smedinghoff over the years. "Capable, gracious, and she would just rise up to the top."

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday at a news conference in Turkey that Smedinghoff was "vivacious, smart" and "capable." Smedinghoff had assisted Kerry during a visit to Afghanistan two weeks ago.

Kerry also described Smedinghoff as "a selfless, idealistic woman who woke up yesterday morning and set out to bring textbooks to school children, to bring them knowledge."

Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said that their daughter died doing what she loved.

"Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war," they said in the statement.

Smedinghoff previously served in Venezuela.

Friends also praised her for her charity work. Smedinghoff participated in a 2009 cross-country bike ride for The 4K for Cancer — part of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults — according to Hopkins and the group's website.

Syrian regime launches counteroffensive on rebels

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad gestures speaks at the Opera House in central Damascus, Syria. Assad has warned that the fall of his regime or the breakup of Syria will unleash a wave of instability that will shake the Middle East for years to come. Assad told the Turkish TV station Ulusal Kanal in an interview aired Friday, April 5, 2013 that "we are surrounded by countries that help terrorists and allow them to enter Syria." (AP Photo/SANA, File)

This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Council of Barzeh, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows the aftermath of rocket attacks on the Barzeh district of Damascus, Syria, Friday, April 5, 2013. A barrage of rockets slammed into a contested district on the northeastern edge of Damascus, killing several people and trapping others under the rubble, while violence raged around suburbs of the capital, activists said Friday. The attack on Barzeh, where rebels aiming to topple President Bashar Assad are known to operate, follows days of heavy fighting between the rebels and the military in the area.(AP Photo/Local Council of Barzeh)

BEIRUT (AP) — After weeks of rebel gains in the south, the Syrian regime launched a counteroffensive on Sunday with widespread airstrikes and an operation that reclaimed a northern village on a strategically important route.

At least 20 people were killed in heavy airstrikes that targeted rebels trying to topple the regime in at least seven cities and regions. To underline their resolve, the government called onopposition fighters to surrender their arms and warned in cellphone text messages that the army is "coming to get you."

State television said the aim of the counteroffensive was to send a message to the opposition and its Western backers that PresidentBashar Assad's troops are capable and willing to battle increasingly better armed rebels on multiple fronts.

Rebels have been making gains in recent weeks, especially in the south near the border with Jordan. They have seized military bases and towns in the strategically important region between Damascusand the Jordanian border about 100 miles away.

However in the north, the main rebel stronghold, government troops have been chipping away slowly over the past weeks at rebel gains around the city of Aleppo, the country's main commercial hub. They have been hammering rebel-held districts inside the city with fighter jets and artillery, sowing fear among residents.

Troops recaptured on Saturday the village of Aziza on a strategic road that links Aleppo with its airport and military bases, activists said. Rebels have been trying to capture that airport and the nearby bases for months now.

The regime seized back the village southeast of Aleppo after a 10-day battle with rebels, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"It's a setback for the rebels because the village is an important strategic point from which the army can shell (opposition) positions all around the area," Abdul-Rahman said.

It's also an outpost from which the army will be able to protect its convoys traveling the highway to ferry supplies to its bases at the airport.

Over the last year, rebels have greatly expanded the territory they hold in the northeastern provinces, including Idlib and Aleppo along the Turkish border.

In February, they extended their control into Raqqa province in the northeast, seizing the second hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River. Last month, the rebels captured Raqqa's provincial capital of the same name — the first city to fall entirely under opposition control in the 2-year-old conflict.

Capturing Aleppo's airport would be a major strategic victory that would enable the opposition to receive aid flights.

Aziza is one in a string of settlements along the Aleppo airport road that government troops have taken back.

The base inside the airport complex includes an airstrip from which regime fighter jets have been taking off to bomb targets around the country.

Sunday's airstrikes targeted Aleppo, the central cities of Homs and Hama and the city of Idlib in the north near the Turkish border. The western Mediterranean city of Latakia, and the eastern province of Deir el-Zour and the suburbs of the capital Damascus were also targeted.

Anti-government activists in Aleppo posted videos on line, showing the aftermath of Saturday's airstrike on what they say is Sukkary district in the northern city. Dozens of residents are standing on piles of rubble in front of a row of residential buildings, looking in disbelief at the front of the building that was blown off when a missile slammed into it.

In another video, men help a woman climb down from a balcony of the second floor of a building that has partially collapsed after a missile ripped through it.

The videos appear consistent with AP reporting from the area.

State television said the primary goal of the airstrikes was to "recapture areas taken by the terrorists," the term the regime uses to refer to opposition fighters in the civil war.

Regime fighter jets pounded villages in rebel-held areas in Latakia province before. But they do not frequently hit the city of the same name that is mostly populated with Syrian minority communities including many members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that Assad and his family belong to.

The rebels and opposition supporters are mostly Sunni Muslims, a majority in Syria.

The Aleppo strike was the deadliest air raid on Sunday, killing up to 12 people, according to another anti-regime activists group, The Local Coordination Committees.

In other violence, a man was shot and killed by an army sniper in the southern city of Daraa, the Observatory said, adding that clashes between troops and rebels raged in the opposition strongholds around Damascus. At least 15 people were killed in the fighting around the capital, the group said.

Daraa province has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks, with rebels making gains in the province and further south.

Last week, they looked poised to take over the area along the Jordanian border, which could be used to try to stage an attack on Damascus, Assad's seat of power.

Abdul-Rahman said there was little rebel advancement in the province on Sunday, despite rebel forces receiving heavier flows of weapons through Jordan as well as training there by the U.S. and other countries.

In Istanbul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip. They discussed shared U.S. and Turkish efforts to support Syria's opposition groups, which have struggled to unify and strengthen links with rebels on the battlefield.

"The United States and Turkey will continue cooperating toward the shared goal of a peaceful transition in Syria," Kerry said.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict that began in March 2011.

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Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Bradley Klapper in Istanbul contributed to this report.