China and US Make North Korea Nuclear Pledge (Libra) BBC: China and the US have vowed to work together to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programme and to settle tensions through dialogue. A Chinese statement issued during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry said the nuclear issue was the "shared responsibility of all parties". Mr Kerry said the two sides must decide "very quickly" how to proceed. North Korea has recently threatened nuclear attacks, and is feared to be preparing a missile launch. (Envy?) This Might Explain Why We Have Not Done a Pre-Emptive Strike: From Yahoo News: A former North Korean spy who bombed a South Korean airliner said Wednesday that the North's leader Kim Jong-Un is struggling to control his military and using war talk to shore up support. Kim Hyun-Hee, who said she was ordered by Jong-Un's father Kim Jong-Il to bomb the airliner in 1987 killing 115 people, said she believes the son is still trying to establish himself following his father's death in December 2011. "Kim Jong-Un is too young and too inexperienced," she told Australia's ABC television in an exclusive interview from Seoul, where she lives at an undisclosed location surrounded by bodyguards. "He's struggling to gain complete control over the military and to win their loyalty. That's why he's doing so many visits to military bases, to firm up support." A flurry of warlike statements from Pyongyang has prompted speculation that a launch could happen on 15 April, when the country marks the 101st birthday of the nation's founder and former leader, Kim Il-sung. (+ BBC video)
