TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010


KLMNO THE WORLD


Activity spotted near N. Korean nuclear facility


BY JOHN POMFRET North Korea continues to keep the ex-


pertsguessing.Lastweek, itpromotedthe thirdsonof its current leader,KimJongIl, prompting speculation that he is on track to succeed his father. And now, apparent- ly, it has commissioned construction ac- tivity at the site where it used to produce plutoniumfor itsnuclear arsenal. An image taken last week by Digital-


Globe, a U.S.-based commercial satellite firm, shows new construction or excava- tion activity in an area surrounding a destroyed cooling tower at the Yongbyon site. Experts said the construction ap- peared to be the first sign of genuine activity atYongbyonsince 2008,whenthe cooling tower was demolished as part of an agreement made during now-stalled negotiations over theNorth’snuclearpro- gram. The photograph shows heavy machin-


ANJUM NAVEED/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Pakistani firefighters respond after militants attacked about 20NATOfuel tankers headed for Afghanistan. Three people were killed in the assault at a depot in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. LaterMonday, two trucks were ambushed in an attack that killed two people in the southwestern province of Baluchistan.


NATO convoys besieged in Pakistan


TRUCKS TORCHED NEAR CAPITAL


Supply route into Afghanistan remains closed for 5th day


BY KARIN BRULLIARD AND HAQ NAWAZ KHAN


islamabad, pakistan — Militants car- ried out two new attacks on NATO convoys in Pakistan on Monday as the government closure of a vital entry point into Afghanistan continued for a fifth day, underscoring the fragility of the coalition forces’ most important war supply route. NATO has tried to diversify its paths


for importing fuel and other supplies, most recently by opening new land routes via Central Asia. But it remains heavily dependent on the highways of Pakistan, where popular opposition to the war and to the United States, along with political instability and a simmer- ing Taliban insurgency, poses constant threats to convoys’ safe passage. U.S. and NATO officials have played


down the significance of the ongoing closure of the busy Torkham crossing, saying it has had a minimal effect on their ability to equip troops. One senior NATO official said he expected the bor- der crossing to reopen this week, after the completion of an investigation into the NATO airstrike that prompted Paki- stan to seal Torkham. But Pakistani officials conditioned a reopening on improved security for con- voys, and security only deteriorated Monday. In a pre-dawn attack, a band of armed men shot and torched as many as 20 NATO fuel trucks parked at a depot near the capital, Islamabad, killing three people. Later, twotrucks were ambushed in an attack that killed two people in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where a second crossing into Afghani- stan has remained open. The Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of


AARON FAVILA/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Aconvoy driver in Rawalpindi tries to salvage items after theMonday attack. The Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan insurgency, asserted responsibility.


the Afghan insurgency, asserted respon- sibility for the attacks and vowed to carry out more. Pakistani government officials expressed doubt about the Taliban asser- tion, but the threat raised the prospect that the Torkham blockade might last longer than expected. Pakistan closed Torkham to war sup-


ply trucks Thursday after a series of NATO helicopter incursions and strikes on Pakistani territory, including one that Pakistan says killed three border troops and injured three others. NATO tankers were set ablaze in two separate attacks Friday. TheNATOairstrikes have enraged and


embarrassed the Pakistani government, which depends on U.S. military and civilian aid but also faces domestic criti- cism for its alliance with the United States, a nation that a majority of Paki- stanis consider an enemy. Pakistan’s importance in the supply


chain also gives it leverage over the U.S. war effort, a power it exercised by closing the Torkham crossing. Officials have


continued to denounce the airstrikes — which NATO said were carried out in self-defense— as violations of Pakistani sovereignty. Pakistan and NATO have since em-


barked on a joint investigation into the most recent air incursion. Pakistan’s foreign minister met in Brussels on Monday with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who apolo- gized for the deaths of the troops and expressed hope that the border “will be open for supplies as soon as possible.” ThePakistani supply routewasprecar-


ious even before the tensions over the airstrike. In 2008 and 2009, a spate of ambushes, some of which employed rocket-propelled grenades, caused Paki- stan to temporarily close border passes, and many drivers refused to make the dangerous trips. Authorities say thieves who loot the


trucks’ cargo, sometimes with the com- plicity of drivers, carry out many such attacks. Given the unpredictability of the Paki-


DIGEST JAPAN


Ozawa to be prosecuted in fundraising scandal A citizen judicial panel onMonday ordered the indictment of polarizing Japanese


politician Ichiro Ozawa, who lost an intraparty election lastmonth that would have made himprimeminister. Ozawawill be prosecuted for alleged violation of campaign finance laws, the latest


development in a fundraising scandal in which three former aides have been arrested. The lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has denied all allegations, but the indictment could compelOzawa to resign his seat in parliament, experts said. “I apologize, fromthe bottomofmy heart, for causing troubles with regard tomy


political funding group,”Ozawa said in a statement. “I amcertain thatmy innocence will become clear in the trial.” The case relates to property purchasesmade in 2004. The indictment threatens to


alter the dynamic of Japan’s ruling party, whose sweeping 2009 election victory was orchestrated, in significant part, byOzawa.About 150members of parliament pledge loyalty to him. Prosecutors had previously decided not to charge Ozawa for the allegedly false


fundraising statements, saying they lacked evidence. This latest decision by a judicial panel of ordinary citizens overrules that decision.


— Chico Harlan BRITAIN


Government to cut, curb welfare payments Britain will cut welfare payments to


more than 1 million families as it prepares to make drastic spending cuts to narrow the country’s $173 billion structural budget deficit, the nation’s financial minister, George Osborne, an- nouncedMonday. High-earning families will no longer


receive a universal benefit for children, while households inwhich no oneworks will see benefit payments curbed so they


receive no more income than the aver- age working family, Osborne told his Conservative Party’s annual conference. Calling these measures “tough but


fair,” he said therewould no longer be an “open-ended checkbook” for welfare claimants. The elimination of child benefit pay-


ments for high-earning families is a gamble for the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition as it prepares to unveil a four-year austerity plan on Oct. 20 that will deliver the biggest squeeze on government spending since World War II. It could alienate higher-income voters, the Conservative Party’s tradi-


ALEXEY SAZONOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES


Russians rally inMoscow to remember those killed 17 years ago when a showdown between then-President Boris Yeltsin and parliament erupted in violence.


tional support base, at a time when the opposition Labor Party has pulled slightly ahead in opinion polls. — Financial Times


RUSSIA


Fired Moscow mayor plans political movement The former mayor of Moscow, sacked


by the Russian president, said Monday


that he will set up a political movement to challenge the ruling party, a move that could create a wild card ahead of the 2012 presidential election. “Going into politics means working


on the establishment of the laws of a democratic society. Today our society has laws that are not democratic,” Yuri Luzhkov told an opposition magazine, the New Times, in an interview pub- lishedMonday. Luzhkov, 74, was dismissed last Tues-


day by PresidentDmitryMedvedev after weeks of open confrontation and a string of disparaging reports in state- controlledmedia. Luzhkov said hismovement will fight


for a return to popular elections of Russia’s regional leaders, including Moscow mayor. Such elections were abolished in 2004 by then-President Vladimir Putin.


— Reuters


Japanese warning on travel in Europe: Japan issued a travel alert for Europe on Monday, joining the United States and Britain inwarning of a possible terrorist attack by al-Qaeda or other groups. The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo urged Japa- nese citizens to be cautious when using public transport or visiting popular tourist sites — issuing another blow to Europe’s tourism industry, which is just starting to recover from the global financial crisis. European authorities — especially in Britain, France and Germa- ny—tightened efforts to keep the public safe in the wake of warnings by officials that the terrorismthreat is high.


Chinese, Japanese leaders meet: Japa- nese Prime Minister Naoto Kan met with Chinese PremierWen Jiabao on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in Brussels onMonday, a Japanese govern- ment official said. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since relations soured after a maritime collision last month near a disputed island in the East China Sea. — Fromnews services


stani roads, NATO announced in June that it had opened a new route into Afghanistan through Central Asia. Some Afghan officials said this week that NATO should continue to reduce its dependence on Pakistan, where the Af- ghan Taliban insurgency is based. “It can no longer be sold that because


of communication lines, because of transportation, we should be turning a blind eye to whatever is happening there,” said Shaida Mohammad Abdali, Afghanistan’s deputy national security adviser. “Afghanistan has five other neighbors. . . . You cannot justify that because of trucks bringing oil to me I would allow terrorists.” Hustle and bustle continued Monday


at the Torkham pass, where passenger vehicles and trucks carrying food and other non-NATO supplies crossed freely. But at one muddy field near the crossing, nearly 200 trucks carrying NATO cargo sat idle, their drivers lounging nearby. The convoys, owned by private con-


tractors, are typically loaded in the southern port of Karachi, then make their way north to the border. Drivers complained Monday that their compa- nies typically provide security in the form of two poorly trained and poorly paid private guards per 10 vehicles, an arrangement that they said was no match for armed gangs or Taliban fight- ers.


Many said they had spent the last


several nights awake, vigilant against attacks on themselves and their cargo. Restaurants and police at checkpoints had chased them away out of fear that they would attract ambushes, they said. One driver said he and his colleagues were each paying about $1.20 a day for an additional private guard. “No one is worried about us and our


lives and financial losses,” said Sharif Khan, a truck driver. “Neither the Ameri- cans nor our own government or these private contractors are concerned about us.”


brulliardk@washpost.com


Khan, a special correspondent, reported from Torkham. Correspondent Joshua Partlow in Kabul contributed to this report.


ery tracks, trucks, andheavy construction or excavation equipment, along with two smallnewbuildings,accordingtoareport by the Institute for Science and Interna- tionalSecurity.Whatexactlyall thatactiv- itymeans, saidDavidAlbright,whowrote the report, isunclear. Albright said the activity could mean


that North Korea is moving toward re- opening Yongbyon as part of a plan to increase its stock of plutonium — now estimated at just less than 80 pounds. Then again, it could also be a move, said Joel S. Wit, a North Korea watcher and former State Department official, “for show, to pull our chains.” North Korea is well aware that its nuclear facilities are under almost constant surveillance by both intelligence and commercial satel- lites. The photograph was released as the


United States and its partners in the re- gion try to figure out how to deal with North Korea after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which Seoul has blamed onPyongyang. In recent weeks, the South and the


North have reached out to each other. South Korea has sent some food aid. NorthKorea has allowed families divided after theKoreanWar tomeet. TheUnited States has also conducted a review of its policy of “strategic patience.” North Korea,which has been referring


to itself as a “nuclear weapons state,” has been vowing formonths to resume some type of nuclear activity. Now, the new satellite image has experts worried that NorthKorea is carrying out its pledge. “It isbynomeans clearwhat ishappen-


ing,” said Jonathan Pollack, an expert on North Korean security at the U.S. Naval WarCollege, “butanynewconstructionat Yongbyoncannot be a good thing.” Pollack said North Korea has succeed-


ed in getting the United States’ attention before. InOctober 2006, it tested a nucle- ar device, prompting the administration of George W. Bush to resume talks with Pyongyang. Itconductedasecondnuclear test inMay 2009. Pollack said any resumption of activity


at Yongbyon could be a payoff of sorts for NorthKorea’smilitary.TheNorthappears to be in the throes of a leadership transi- tion,with the elder Kimengineering pro- motions forhis third son,KimJongEun. “It could be a compensation package


for themilitary,”Pollack said. Both Pollack andWit stressed thatU.S.


officials would underestimate North Ko- rea’s capabilities at their ownperil. “It’s a serious mistake,” Wit said, “to


believe that they are not capable of doing anything tostepuptheirnuclear arsenal.” pomfretj@washpost.com


EZ SU


A7


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