During the Missile Defense Agency test, U.S. Navy sailors aboard USS Lake Erie (CG-70) used the Aegis BMD Weapon System in an operational test environment to discriminate a ballistic missile target among multiple separating objects designed to present a realistic threat scenario.

The target, launched from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, traveled approximately the distance from Boston to Washington, D.C.

"With every flight test, we've witnessed the ability of the sailors, the ship and the system to engage increasingly more sophisticated ballistic missile threats," said Nick Bucci, director of BMD development programs for Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems and Training. "

Each success reaffirms Aegis as the foundation of a variety of systems that can combat the world's increasingly sophisticated enemy threats."

This firing test event marks the 10th time in four years that the USS Lake Erie and her crew have successfully performed at-sea operations against cruise and ballistic missile targets using the second-generation Aegis BMD system.

The system was recently upgraded with faster, more powerful commercial-off-the-shelf signal processing equipment and updates to its weapon system computer programs.

The test also marks an important milestone for the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) to missile defense in Europe, demonstrating PAA Phase 2 SM-3 Block IB capabilities planned for deployment in 2015 at a land-based Aegis Ashore site in Romania and aboard Navy ships to protect U.S. interests on the continent.

Aegis BMD's upgraded signal processor enables the Navy to defeat more sophisticated ballistic missile threats as a result of improved target identification capabilities. It includes an open architecture BMD computing suite that improves overall system capabilities and enables future insertion of more off-the-shelf products, third-party components and turn-key solutions.

The MDA and the Navy are jointly developing Aegis BMD as part of the United States' Ballistic Missile Defense System. Currently, a total of 27 U.S. Aegis BMD-equipped warships have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions. The number of installed U.S. BMD ships is expected to increase to 32 by 2014.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 - The Pentagon has stepped up efforts to fund Israel's anti-missile shield with the Missile Defense Agency requesting $220 million in fiscal 2014 for Israel's air force to buy more Iron Dome batteries.

It's the first time the MDA has specifically sought funds for Iron Dome, developed and built by Haifa's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, in its annual budget process.

That underlines the U.S. Defense Department's effort to maintain military aid for Israel despite major cutbacks in defense spending.

The agency is also expected to seek another $520 million to fund other Israeli anti-missile systems, including the David's Sling and the high-altitude Arrow 3, which is under development.

"The money, if approved, would be on top of the $486 million the White House and Congress have requested or added for Iron Dome in recent years after formal budgets were submitted," The Jerusalem Post reported.

The House of Representatives and the Senate indicated in 2012 "they wanted to approve spending as much as $680 million for Iron Dome through 2015."

Iron Dome, designed to shoot down short-range missiles and rockets and recently upgraded to counter longer-range weapons as well, became operational in early 2012. But the Israeli air force, which has responsibility for air defense, has only acquired five batteries, several of those with direct U.S. funding on top of the annual $3.1 billion in U.S. military aid Israel receives.

That allowed Israel to deploy all five batteries during an eight-day November clash with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

By official count, Iron Dome successfully intercepted 84.6 percent of the rockets it engaged, including several that for the first time targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iron Dome's Tamir interceptors engage only those projectiles its computer calculates will hit populated areas and ignores the rest.

Several missile scientists and others have questioned the system's kill rate, with one saying it was closer to 5-10 percent of rockets engaged than the government's assessment of 84.6 percent.

The government rejected the criticisms and is moving ahead with creating a multilayered defense shield against a sustained bombardment it fears by Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah on Israel's northern border and Palestinian militants in the south.

David's Sling, being developed by Rafael and the Raytheon Co. of the United States, is designed to counter medium-range missiles.

Arrow 3, being developed by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and the Boeing Co., is intended to intercept Iranian and Syrian ballistic missiles outside Earth's atmosphere. In its first flight test a few weeks ago Arrow 3 achieved an altitude of 70 miles and intercepted a simulated missile threat.

The Arrow 2 variant currently in service will backstop at lower altitudes against ballistic attacks.

The fiscal 2014 request by the MDA includes funding for further Arrow 3 testing and a second interception flight before preparations begin for initial production.

There is separate funding for an Arrow "Weapons Systems Improvement" program that integrates data links between Israeli missile forces and U.S. weapons systems in the Middle East, reinforcing protection for the Jewish state.

MDA's funding efforts underline that the U.S. administration is seeking to ensure that U.S. military aid to Israel won't be affected by the so-called sequestration of U.S. defense spending.

The Congressional Research Service figures show that U.S. aid to Israel has increased since 1949 by an average of 28 percent a year, leaping 11.4 percent from 2010-13.

The Israel lobby in Washington is pressing for exempting Israel from automatic spending cuts being introduced in virtually all other U.S. government programs.

The commitment of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to maintaining aid flow to Israel was also underlined by the Pentagon announcement last week that Israel, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, will be receiving advanced weapons systems worth $10 billion over the next few years.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stressed during his visit to Israel this week that military aid won't be cut.

Antiwar.com, a U.S. website that's highly critical of the levels of U.S. military aid to Israel, recently cited a report on Israeli government expenditures that showed the Jewish state spends "a hugely disproportionate amount on its military, with roughly one-fifth of the overall national budget going straight into military spending."

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Washington (AFP) April 16, 2013 - The Pentagon has requested $220.3 million in 2014 to bolster Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system despite broader cuts to US military spending, according to budget documents.

The US Missile Defense Agency also is asking for an additional $175.9 million in fiscal year 2015 for Israel's homegrown missile defense network, according to the agency's budget proposal posted online.

The Pentagon already invested $204 million on the system in 2011 and $70 million in 2012.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel promised in talks in March with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, who has since retired, that Washington would continue to fund anti-missile weaponry, including Iron Dome, despite fiscal pressures.

The budget details emerged before Hagel's planned visit to Israel next week, his first as defense secretary.

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives in May 2012 called for additional funding of roughly $680 million for the Iron Dome program.

US military assistance to Israel comes to about three billion dollars a year to ensure the country's "qualitative military edge" in the region, as mandated by Congress.

For its part, Israel has spent a billion dollars on the development and production of Iron Dome batteries.

Israeli officials say the Iron Dome program proved a success in battle last year.

In eight days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in November, the Israeli military said it brought down 421 of 1,354 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Of those which landed, 58 hit urban areas while the rest fell in open fields, causing no damage.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Tokyo (AFP) April 10, 2013 - Japan has deployed missile batteries in its heaving capital to defend the 30 million people who live in the greater Tokyo area from any North Korean attack.

Here are some key facts about Japan's ability to protect itself.

WHAT IS JAPAN'S MILITARY CAPABILITY?

Japan's Self Defense Forces have a total of approximately 250,000 full time service personnel. As of March 2012, Japan had 143 military vessels and 420 combat aircraft. It spends around $50 billion on its military every year, equivalent to around one percent of Gross Domestic Product.

The military is well-equipped, well-trained and makes use of technology.

Japan is also host to around 47,000 US military service personnel, who have with them a large amount of military hardware.

South Korea has deployed two Aegis destroyers, one off each coast, equipped with advance radar warning systems to track any missile launch.

WHAT HAS JAPAN DONE TO DEFEND AGAINST A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE?

Four Aegis-equipped destroyers routinely ply waters around the archipelago. Presently, two of them are in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

There are 16 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 firing units based in Japan's four different regions. The number of individual PAC-3 launchers is reported to be 28. The US forces in Okinawa are reported to have a further 24.

In anticipation of Pyongyang's launch, four PAC-3 batteries were moved to the Defense Forces headquarters in Tokyo and three other ground force camps surrounding the capital.

However, some commentators warn that North Korea's most recent missile technology allows them to launch from the back of a moving vehicle. This could make any incoming North Korean missile more difficult to intercept because it is harder to calculate a trajectory.

IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD JAPAN TRY TO SHOOT DOWN A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE?

Japan's law allows its military to shoot down a North Korean missile in the air over its territory or over the high seas when it is headed toward its territory and feared to endanger lives or property.

Analysts say Japan is unlikely to be the target of any launch, but that the technological or mechanical failure of a North Korean missile intended to be fired into the Pacific might mean a missile -- or parts of it -- could fall on the country.

It is likely this eventuality that Tokyo is guarding against.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED DURING PREVIOUS NORTH KOREAN LAUNCHES?

North Korea fired a rocket without warning on August 31, 1998, in what it said was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit. The first stage landed in the Sea of Japan and the second crossed Honshu island and fell into the Pacific.

That launch led to the 2003 decision to deploy Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based SM-3 interceptor missiles and the land-based Patriot surface-to-air missiles.

On March 27, 2009, Japan's defence minister issued a shoot-down order for the first time in response to North Korea's preparations to launch a modified rocket.

The rocket blasted off on April 5, flying harmlessly hundreds of kilometres (miles) above Japan's northeast. Japan's defence forces did not try to intercept it.

On March 30, 2012, another shoot-down order was issued when North Korea said it was launching a satellite, however the long-range rocket disintegrated soon after lift off on April 13.

A third shoot-down order was issued on December 7, 2012, as North Korea readied a rocket that flew south over Okinawa five days later.

The rocket passed over the southern island chain outside the range of Japanese SM-3 and PAC-3 interceptor missiles, which were not launched.

Japan's defence minister issued the latest shoot-down order on April 7.

WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN THIS TIME?

Toshimitsu Shigemura, a Korean affairs specialist and professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, said North Korea is not aiming the rocket at Japan.

"Japan has the right under international law to shoot down a missile which is passing over if it is launched without warning. North Korea may criticise Japan for such an action but may not do anything further," he said.

Masao Okonogi, an honorary professor at Keio University, said North Korea may be aiming the rocket toward Guam or Hawaii.

"There is a remote possibility that part of the missile will fall over Japan. Such debris will burn up on re-entry so it is very unlikely that anything will actually hit Japan.

"If, however, the rocket is fired toward Japan, it is clearly military action and it is inevitable that Japan will try to shoot it down."

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Dallas TX (SPX) Apr 15, 2013 - Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 Missile successfully detected, tracked and intercepted a tactical ballistic missile (TBM) in a Lower Tier Project Office flight test today at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

Two PAC-3 Missiles were ripple-fired in the test per current doctrine. The first interceptor destroyed the target and the second PAC-3 Missile self-destructed as planned. Mission objectives were focused on reducing risk for a flight test of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) scheduled later this year.

"Today's flight test provided us the opportunity to demonstrate the PAC-3 Missile against a challenging TBM target," said Richard McDaniel, vice president of PAC-3 Missile programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Our preliminary data indicate that all objectives were achieved."

The PAC-3 and MSE Missiles are two of the world's most advanced, capable and reliable theater air defense missiles. They defeat tactical ballistic and air breathing targets.

As the most technologically advanced missile for the PATRIOT air defense system, PAC-3 significantly increases the PATRIOT system's firepower, allowing 16 PAC-3 Missiles to be loaded in place of just four legacy PATRIOT PAC-2 missiles on the launcher.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile.

It also has considerable experience in missile design and production, infrared seekers, command and control/battle management, and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, as well as radar and signal processing.

The company makes significant contributions to all major U.S. missile defense systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is a 2012 recipient of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence.

The Malcolm Baldrige Award represents the highest honor that can be awarded to American companies for their achievements in leadership, strategic planning, customer relations, measurement, analysis, workforce excellence, operations and results.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Warsaw (AFP) April 12, 2013 - Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski on Friday signed an amendment that guarantees funds for Poland's missile shield programme from next year until 2023.

The program will be integrated into the wider NATO project and will "send an important signal to all that Poland has its own means of defence," he said, quoted on the presidency's website.

Komorowski inked the amendment to a law on financing the armed forces at a military base in the northeastern village of Szypliszki, site of a powerful NATO radar.

Last month, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland would spend 33.6 billion euros ($43.3 billion) to upgrade the army and "build up its deterrence forces".

"We will create our own air defence system. Our national missile shield, with the American shield, the elements of which will be on our territory by 2018 and will make up part of the NATO system," Sikorski told parliament.

The US said last month it would deploy 14 additional anti-missile interceptors in Alaska, up from the current 30, in response to mounting concerns about nuclear-armed North Korea.

The plan for Europe -- to counter a potential Iran threat -- envisages the deployment of dozens of SM-3 interceptors in Romania and Poland between now and 2018.

Moscow is strongly opposed to the plan, seeing it as a threat to its security, and demands to either be associated with it or receive guarantees it's not a target.

Having shed communism in 1989 before joining NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004, Poland, a nation of 38 million has spent the last two decades updating its Soviet-era military hardware.

It is also the only EU member to have sustained growth amid both the global financial and eurozone crises, and spends round 1.95 percent of its gross domestic product on defence.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Washington (AFP) April 9, 2013 - A top US military commander said Tuesday he favored shooting down a North Korean missile only if it threatened the United States or Washington's allies in the region.

When asked by lawmakers if he supported knocking out any missile fired by North Korea, Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of US Pacific Command, said: "I would not recommend that."

But the four-star admiral told the Senate Armed Services Committee he would "certainly recommend" intercepting an incoming North Korean missile "if it was in defense of our allies" or the United States.

Amid widespread speculation North Korea could be preparing a missile launch, Locklear also said he was confident the US military would be able to detect quickly where any missile was headed.

"It doesn't take long for us to determine where it's going and where it's going to land," said Locklear, who oversees American forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

The US military has a powerful radar in Japan to help track a possible missile launch as well as naval ships in the area equipped with anti-missile weaponry. Japan and South Korea also have their own missile defense systems.

The Pacific Command chief's comments underscored the delicate balancing act faced by President Barack Obama as his administration attempts to demonstrate US resolve without aggravating the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Given North Korea's repeated violations of UN Security Council resolutions that bar the pursuit of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, Pyongyang represents "a clear and direct threat to US national security and regional peace and stability," Locklear said.

North Korea has issued dire threats that it could stage an attack on the United States with nuclear weapons, but experts doubt it is able to do so.

Both the admiral and lawmakers voiced concern that possible miscalculation could trigger an unintended war, and Locklear acknowledged the situation was "volatile."

To try to manage tensions, a new joint military plan between the United States and South Korea was designed to carefully counter North Korea's provocations but "without unnecessary escalation," he said.

With Pyongyang issuing almost daily threats against Washington and its allies, the United States was struggling to discern the motives and behavior of the Stalinist state's young leader, Kim Jong-Un, he said.

"We have limited understanding of North Korean leadership intent, which remains a concern to long-term stability," Locklear said in written testimony.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said hopes had long been dashed that North Korea's leader would be a reformer.

"Any guarded optimism about North Korea that may have accompanied the December 2011 death of long-time dictator Kim Jong Il has faded as the new regime has adopted many of the same destructive policies ...as its predecessors," Levin said.

The senator and other lawmakers expressed frustration over China's role, saying it needed to use its influence with North Korea to defuse the crisis.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Tokyo (AFP) April 9, 2013 - Japan has deployed Patriot missiles in its capital as it readies to defend the 30 million people who live in greater Tokyo from any North Korean attack, officials said Tuesday.

Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air missile launchers were stationed at the defence ministry in Tokyo before dawn, a ministry spokesman said, while Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said "we are proceeding with measures including deployment of PAC-3 as we are on alert".

Local reports said batteries would be deployed in another two locations in the greater Tokyo area.

"The government is making utmost efforts to protect our people's lives and ensure their safety," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Tuesday morning.

"As North Korea keeps making provocative comments, Japan, cooperating with relevant countries, will do what we have to do.

"For the moment, the most important thing is to implement sanctions under the UN Security Council resolutions," Abe said.

Tokyo's response thus far to the threats emanating from Pyongyang has been low key and Tuesday's moves are the most visible yet that it is rattled.

PAC-3 batteries will also be installed in the semi-tropical island chain of Okinawa, Onodera told a television programme broadcast Monday.

He said Okinawa was "the place that is most effective in responding to emergencies... so we should deploy the unit in Okinawa on a permanent basis".

Japan's armed forces are authorised to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory, a defence ministry spokesman said Monday.

In addition to the PAC-3s, Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based interceptor missiles have been deployed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the defence official said.

Tokyo's moves came as North Korea said Monday it was withdrawing all workers and suspending operations at a lucrative joint industrial zone with South Korea, with reports of heightened activity at the North's nuclear test site and at a missile battery.

North Korea's bellicose rhetoric has reached fever pitch in recent weeks, with near-daily threats of attacks on US military bases including in Japan and South Korea in response to ongoing South Korea-US military exercises.

Intelligence reports suggest Pyongyang has readied two mid-range missiles on mobile launchers on its east coast and plans a test-firing before the April 15 birthday of late founding leader Kim Il-Sung.

But Toshimitsu Shigemura, professor of international relations at Waseda University, said Tokyo's measures were purely precautionary and it was unlikely that Pyongyang would actually target Japan

"This is a verbal war and it's not accompanied by actual military actions," he told AFP.

"Government officials know from satellite images that Pyongyang has not mobilised its troops or weapons on the frontline, except that they moved mobile missile launchers to the east coast."

He said a mis-targeted missile that might end up falling uncontrollably towards Japanese territory was most likely what Tokyo was readying for.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Seoul (AFP) April 4, 2013 - The United States has scrambled to reinforce its Pacific missile defences, preparing to send ground-based interceptors to Guam, as North Korea said Thursday it had authorised plans for nuclear strikes on US targets.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose threats combined with its military capabilities represented a "real and clear danger" to the United States and to its allies South Korea and Japan.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," Hagel said Wednesday. "We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously."

The Pentagon said it would send ground-based THAAD missile-interceptor batteries to protect military bases on Guam, a US territory some 3,380 kilometres (2,100 miles) southeast of North Korea and home to 6,000 American military personnel, submarines and bombers.

They would complement two Aegis anti-missile destroyers already dispatched to the region.

Shortly after the THAAD announcement, the North Korean military said it had received final approval for military action against the United States, possibly involving nuclear weapons.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the Korean People's Army general staff said, responding to what it called the provocative US use of nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in ongoing war games with South Korea.

The US aggression would be "smashed by... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means," it said in a statement.

While few of the North's threats have been matched with action, reports Thursday said it appears to have moved a medium-range missile capable of hitting targets in South Korea and Japan to its east coast.

"We are closely monitoring whether the North moved it with a view to actual launch or just as a show of force against the US," Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean official as saying.

A provocative missile test-fired into the sea over Japan is one scenario that analysts have said the North could opt for as a relatively low-risk way of exiting the crisis with a face-saving show of force.

Yun Duk-Min, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, said the latest nuclear threat was similar to one issued a month ago, but with the added weight of "approval" -- presumably by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

"The problem is whether Kim, who is still young and inexperienced, knows how to handle this escalation," Yun said. "Where does it end? That's the worrying question."

North Korea blocked access to its Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea Thursday for the second day running, and threatened to pull out its 53,000 workers in a furious reaction to the South's airing of a "military" contingency plan to protect its own workers there.

Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to the Kaesong complex, the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.

"The full closure of the complex is set to become a reality," a spokesman for the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said.

The North has said that the more than 800 South Koreans currently in Kaesong -- 10 kilometres (six miles) inside the North Korean border -- can leave whenever they want but many have chosen to stay to keep the factories running.

North Korea threatened a "pre-emptive" nuclear strike against the United States in early March, and last week its supreme army command ordered strategic rocket units to combat status.

Most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a nuclear device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since December, when the North test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it upped the ante once again by conducting its third nuclear test.

Subsequent UN sanctions and joint South Korea-US military drills triggered weeks of near-daily threats from Pyongyang, ranging from artillery strikes to nuclear armageddon.

The escalating crisis has triggered global concern, with China and Russia issuing repeated calls for restraint and UN Chief Ban Ki-moon warning that the situation had "gone too far" and risked spiralling out of control.

This week, the North warned it would reopen its mothballed Yongbyon reactor -- its source of weapons-grade plutonium. It was closed in July 2007 under a six-nation aid-for-disarmament accord.

The US-Korea Institute at John Hopkins University said Wednesday that a satellite photograph seen on March 27 appeared to show construction work around the reactor was already under way.

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]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Seoul (AFP) April 4, 2013 - The United States has scrambled to reinforce its Pacific missile defences as North Korea pushed more global alarm buttons Thursday by announcing it had authorised plans for possible nuclear strikes on US targets.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose threats combined with its military capabilities represented a "real and clear danger" to the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan.

The Pentagon said it would send ground-based THAAD missile-interceptor batteries to protect bases on Guam, a US territory some 3,380 kilometres (2,100 miles) southeast of North Korea and home to 6,000 American military personnel.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," Hagel said Wednesday. "We take those threats seriously."

Shortly afterwards, the North Korean military said it had received final approval for military action against the United States, possibly involving nuclear weapons.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the Korean People's Army general staff said, responding to what it called the provocative US use of nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in war games with South Korea.

The US aggression would be "smashed by... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means," it said in a statement.

While few of the North's threats have been matched with action, South Korea said it appeared to have moved a medium-range missile to its east coast.

"It could be aimed at test-firing or military drills," South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin told lawmakers.

A provocative missile test-fired into the sea over Japan is one scenario that analysts have said the North could opt for as a relatively low-risk way of exiting the crisis with a face-saving show of force.

The new nuclear threats drew fresh concern led by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who said on a visit to Monaco that he was "deeply concerned and troubled" over the escalating rhetoric.

"At this time, I think all the parties concerned in the Korean peninsula, in particular the Chinese government, can play a very important role to calm down the situation," said Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister.

The European Union also called on Pyongyang to stop stoking tensions and re-engage with the international community.

Russia's foreign ministry termed the North's neglect of UN resolutions as "categorically unacceptable".

Yun Duk-Min, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, said the latest nuclear threat was similar to one issued a month ago, but with the added weight of "approval" -- presumably by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

"The problem is whether Kim, who is still young and inexperienced, knows how to handle this escalation," Yun said. "Where does it end? That's the worrying question."

North Korea blocked access to its Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea Thursday for the second day running, and threatened to pull out its 53,000 workers in a furious reaction to the South's airing of a "military" contingency plan to protect its own workers there.

Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside the North and is the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.

"The full closure of the complex is set to become a reality," a spokesman for the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea said.

The North says the South Koreans currently in Kaesong can leave whenever they want. About 200 departed Thursday but some 600 remain to keep the factories running.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since December, when the North test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it upped the ante once again by conducting its third nuclear test and drawing fresh UN sanctions.

It previously threatened a "pre-emptive" nuclear strike against the United States in early March, and last week its supreme army command ordered strategic rocket units to combat status.

Most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a nuclear device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory.

The North also warned this week it would reopen its mothballed Yongbyon reactor -- its source of weapons-grade plutonium that was closed in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord.

South Koreans have become accustomed to the North's threats and provocations over the years, and even with tensions as heightened as they are now, there is some public anxiety but no panic.

The latest developments saw the stock market slip by 1.2 percent Thursday in its biggest one-day loss in four months. But the bourse has been remarkably resilient since war rhetoric cranked up in earnest two weeks ago.

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]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:10 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D