Obama will make NKorea nukes a priority: SKorea envoy

SEOUL (AFP) – The new US administration will make North Korea's nuclear disarmament a priority despite other pressing world problems, according to South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator.

"The North Korean nuclear issue may not be as urgent as the Gaza Strip." said Kim Sook.

"But it will be high on the list of priorities in both the short and long term in view of nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction."

Kim, quoted by Yonhap news agency, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointed out the urgency of handling the nuclear issue during her congressional confirmation hearing.

Clinton said last week the Obama administration will pursue a "very aggressive effort" against North Korea's alleged weapons proliferation.

"Our goal is to end the North Korean nuclear programme -- both the plutonium reprocessing programme and the highly enriched uranium programme, which there is reason to believe exists, although never quite verified," she added.

Kim said he plans to meet his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki in Seoul next Thursday to discuss future strategy.

Six-nation disarmament talks are stalled by disagreements over how the North's declared nuclear activities should be verified. The talks group the two Koreas, China, Russia, the US and Japan.

SKorea to deploy remote-controlled mines: official

SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea will deploy remote-controlled mines along its heavily fortified border with North Korea by 2013, a defense ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Bids have been invited for the development of the new mines called "spider bombs," the spokesman told AFP.

The border is often described as the world's last Cold War frontier. Some 660,000 South Korean troops and 28,000 US troops are deployed in the South to counter the potential threat from the North's 1.1 million-strong military.

South Korea plans to reduce the number of troops to 500,000 by 2020.

"The development is part of our plans to slash the number of troops, a move which will lead to fewer soldiers patrolling sensitive areas," the spokesman said.

US troops have the XM-7 Spider which can be remotely triggered wirelessly, but the spokesman declined to say whether it was deployed in South Korea.

The two Koreas remain technically at war, since a 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice.

The border between South and North Korea is one of the world's most heavily mined areas because of extensive mine-laying since the war, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in a 2007 report.

Some 970,000 mines have been planted on the South side of the demilitarized zone, the group said.

Indonesian Muslims banned from practicing yoga

By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Muslims in Indonesia are banned from practicing yoga that contains Hindu rituals like chanting, the country's top Islamic body said Monday, echoing concerns by some religious groups elsewhere about its effect on their faith.

Though not legally binding, most devout Muslims will likely adhere to the ruling because ignoring a fatwa, or religious decree, is considered a sin.

The decision in the world's most populous Muslim state follows similar edicts in Malaysia and Egypt as the ancient Indian exercise gained popularity worldwide in recent years.

Cleric Ma'ruf Amin said the Ulema Council issued its ruling over the weekend after investigators visited gyms and private yoga classes across the sprawling nation. Amir said those performing yoga purely for health or sport reasons will not be affected.

But yoga practitioners immediately criticized the decision.

"They shouldn't be worrying about this," said Jamilah Konny Fransiska, a yoga teacher on the northern island of Batam, adding that all of her students perform yoga solely to strengthen their bodies and minds.

"There is little or no spiritual element to it," she said. "The clerics should be focusing only on purely religious matters, not this."

Yoga — a blend of physical and mental exercises aimed at integrating mind, body and spirit — has become so popular in the United States that many public schools have started offering it as part of their physical education programs.

But there, too, yoga has come under fire, with some Christian fundamentalists arguing its Hindu roots conflict with their own teachings.

A few secular parents are also opposed, saying its spiritual elements could violate rules demanding separation of church and state.

Though there is no Jewish law against yoga, which is widely practiced in Israel, some movements that insinuate idol worship are frowned upon, but not banned, by rabbis. This is to avoid misunderstandings that followers are praying to entities other than God, the sun for instance.

Indonesia is a secular country of 235 million people, 90 percent of them Muslim. Most practice a moderate form of the faith, though an increasingly vocal extremist fringe has gained ground in recent years. They have in some cases succeeded in influencing government policy, because many leaders depend on the support of Islamic parties.

The Ulema Council decided to investigate the need for a yoga ban after religious authorities in neighboring Malaysia issued their own fatwa late last year.

Many people there protested, insisting they had been performing yoga for years without losing their faith. Eventually, even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had to step in, assuring Malaysians they could continue with the exercises as long as they didn't chant.

Amir, the cleric, said the same rule applied to Muslims here.

"We only prohibit activities that can corrupt Islamic values," he said.

The Ulema Council's annual meeting on fatwas over the weekend also debated whether to issue an edict banning smoking in Indonesia, one of the world's largest tobacco markets.

But cleric Amin Suma said Sunday those talks ended in a deadlock.

Carter: If no Palestine, Israel sees 'catastrophe'

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that Israel will face a "catastrophe" unless it revives the Mideast peace process and establishes an independent Palestinian state.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land in the foreseeable future.

"If we look toward a one-state solution, which seems to be the trend — I hope not inexorable — it would be a catastrophe for Israel, because there would be only three options in that case," Carter said.

One would be to expel large numbers of Palestinians, which he said would amount to "ethnic cleansing."

The second would be to deprive the Palestinians of equal voting rights, which he said would amount to "apartheid."

The third would be to give the Palestinians equal voting rights, and therefore the majority, he said.

"And you would no longer have a Jewish state," Carter said. "The basic decisions would be made by the Palestinians, who would almost very likely vote in a bloc, whereas you would have some sharp divisions among the Israelis, because the Israelis always have different points of view."

Carter spoke to The Associated Press as his new book, "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land," was released.

His wording on Israel's options was not new. His 2006 book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," provoked a hail of criticism, particularly from Jewish-Americans who felt it unfairly compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

Carter still believes a two-state solution is the best option, with all of Israel's Arab neighbors recognizing its right to exist in peace, and Israel withdrawing from most of the land it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War to create an independent Palestine.

Carter brokered the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt 30 years ago, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

During Monday's interview, Carter also discussed North Korea's nuclear program, saying he thought the communist nation would be willing to give up its nuclear weapons for U.S. diplomatic recognition, a peace deal with South Korea and America, and if it got new atomic power reactors and free fuel oil.

"It could be worked out, in my opinion, in half a day," Carter said.

Last week, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said it would give up its nuclear weapons only if Washington establishes diplomatic relations with the regime and the U.S. ceases to pose a nuclear threat to the North.

"I went over there in 1994 and I worked out a complete agreement with Kim Il Sung to eliminate all nuclear programs, and to let International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors come in without impediment," Carter said.

"President Clinton adopted that and put it into effect." But he said it was later shelved by President George W. Bush.

Carter believes a deal could be accomplished with good will.

"North Koreans, in my opinion, whom I know fairly well, have always been willing to forego their nuclear capability if they have diplomatic relations with the United States, first of all, which is not easy," Carter told the AP.

"And if they have an assurance with the United States that it would not attack them militarily, of course with the proviso that North Korea not attack South Korea," he said.

Carter said the rest of the solution is as easy as replacing their old dangerous reactors with new, safer designs with guaranteed IAEA inspection access, and giving North Korea fuel oil to run electric generators until its power grid is improved.

Somali insurgents take Baidoa after Ethiopians leave

By Mohamed Ahmed

BAIDOA (Reuters) – Hardline Islamist insurgents captured the central town of Baidoa on Monday, an important stronghold of Somalia's fragile government and seat of the national parliament, witnesses said.

Just hours after Ethiopia withdrew its last troops from Baidoa and pulled back across the border, fighters from the militant al Shabaab group moved in.

Battling government troops and local clan militia, they captured an old granary serving as the legislature, the airport, and the home of the country's acting president, locals said.

"My fighters are now in Baidoa and the town is peaceful," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansoor said.

While some analysts said Ethiopia's withdrawal from Somalia on Monday could take the sting out of the Islamist insurgency, al Shabaab -- which is on Washington's list of terrorist groups -- has vowed to carry on fighting and impose Islamic law.

It has long wanted to take Baidoa, which, along with Mogadishu, was the only place where the government had any physical control.

With security deteriorating rapidly in Somalia, the country's parliament voted in neighboring Djibouti to double its size and invite 200 members of the moderate Islamist opposition to join the expanded body.

International players including the African Union and United Nations are pushing for a new unity government as the only option for peace in the country of about 10 million that has had perpetual civil conflict since 1991.

"I am extremely encouraged by this vote and I would like to thank Somalia's leaders, the parliamentarians and all those who have helped work toward such a positive step," said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. envoy to Somalia.

The vote means that Somalia's parliament will accept 200 new members from the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) and leave 75 seats to be filled by other opposition and civil society members later.

Legislators went to Djibouti due to lack of security in Baidoa.

ON THE BORDER

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian officials confirmed the complete pullout of their troops, but said they would maintain a heavy presence along the long border with Somalia.

The Ethiopians entered Somalia to chase a sharia courts movement out of Mogadishu at the end of 2006. The offensive sparked an Islamist-led rebellion, fighting that has killed at least 16,000 civilians and caused a humanitarian disaster.

Shortly after the Ethiopians left Baidoa overnight, clan militia and local police looted the empty bases. Two people died from shooting during the melee, witnesses said.

Insurgents then hurled a grenade at government soldiers near a bus-stop, prompting return fire. At least three people were killed and eight others injured in that incident, locals said.

Somalia's weak, Western-backed government had depended on the Ethiopians for military support, and is now exposed to an array of Islamist opposition groups. The Islamists have, however, been fighting among themselves in recent weeks.

Meeting hundreds of Somali politicians in Djibouti, Abdallah and other international players are pushing for the expanded parliament to elect a new president this week.

The international community hopes a more inclusive Somali administration with new leadership will be able to reach out to armed groups still fighting the government and a small force of African Union peacekeepers.

Under the constitutional charter, a new Somali president should be chosen by parliament within 30 days of the resignation of former President Abdullahi Yusuf, who quit on December 29.

Legislators are mulling whether to stick to that timeframe or vote for an extension -- a move being stiffly resisted by international players in Djibouti.

Al Shabaab and the more militant Islamist wing of the ARS, based in Eritrea, have so far refused to take part in the U.N.-hosted peace process.

Ethiopia pulls last troops from Somalia

By Mohamed Ahmed

BAIDOA (Reuters) – Ethiopia pulled its last soldiers out of Somalia Monday after a more than two-year intervention to combat an Islamist movement in its Horn of Africa neighbor, officials on both sides said.

The departure of Addis Ababa's roughly 3,000 troops starts a new era for Somalia, which has suffered 18 years of conflict since a dictator was ousted from office.

Predictions the power vacuum would herald more bloodshed were confirmed with immediate violence in Baidoa, the seat of Somalia's parliament which Ethiopian troops left overnight.

Clan militia and local police looted the empty bases, with two people dying from shooting during the melee, witnesses said.

Insurgents then hurled a grenade at government soldiers near a bus-stop, prompting return fire. At least three people were killed and eight others injured in that incident, locals said.

Somalia's parliament, meeting in Djibouti due to insecurity at home, voted to double its size and invite 200 members of the moderate Islamist opposition to join the expanded body.

International players including the African Union and United Nations are pushing for a unity government as the only option for peace in the country of about 10 million.

"I am extremely encouraged by this vote and I would like to thank Somalia's leaders, the parliamentarians and all those who have helped work toward such a positive step," said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N.'s envoy to Somalia.

The vote means that Somalia's parliament will accept 200 new members from the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) now and leave 75 seats to be filled by other opposition and civil society members later.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian officials confirmed the complete pullout of their troops, but said they would maintain a heavy presence along the long border with Somalia.

The Ethiopians entered Somalia to chase a sharia courts movement out of Mogadishu at the end of 2006. The offensive sparked an Islamist-led rebellion, fighting that has killed at least 16,000 civilians and caused a humanitarian disaster.

PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

Somalia's weak, Western-backed government had depended on the Ethiopians for military support, and is now exposed to an array of Islamist opposition groups. The Islamists have, however, been fighting among themselves in recent weeks.

In Baidoa, residents already suffering from a drought and food shortages braced for a possible Islamist assault on a town the insurgents have long wanted to control.

"We are afraid thirst or fighting will kill us," said mother-of-eight Fatuma Ali, outside her closed store.

"We do not know where to run."

Somali government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon said the remaining Ethiopian troops pulled out of Baidoa Sunday night before heading further west toward the border.

"The Ethiopians have fulfilled their promise. Their last troops crossed the border this morning," he said.

Meeting hundreds of Somali politicians in Djibouti, Abdallah and other international players are also pushing for parliament to elect a new president this week.

Legislators were discussing later Monday whether they would stick to that timeframe or vote for an extension -- a move being stiffly resisted by international players in Djibouti.

Under the constitutional charter, a new Somali president should be chosen by parliament within 30 days of the resignation of former President Abdullahi Yusuf, who quit on December 29.

The international community hopes a more inclusive Somali administration will be able to reach out to armed groups still fighting the government and African Union peacekeepers.

The more militant Islamist wing of the ARS, based in Eritrea, has so far refused to take part in the peace process. So have fighters in the hardline Islamist group Al Shabaab, who want to impose their strict version of Islamic law in Somalia.

37 Korean Troops Convert to ISLAM

"I became a Muslim because I felt Islam was more humanistic and peaceful than other religions. And if you can religiously connect with the locals, I think it could be a big help in carrying out our peace reconstruction mission." So said on Friday those Korean soldiers who converted to Islam ahead of their late July deployment to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq.

At noon Friday, 37 members of the Iraq-bound "Zaitun Unit," including Lieutenant Son Hyeon-ju of the Special Forces 11th Brigade, made their way to a masjid in Hannam-dong, Seoul and held a conversion ceremony.

The soldiers, who cleansed their entire bodies in accordance with Islamic tradition, made their conversion during the Friday group prayers at the masjid, with the assistance of the "imam," or prayer leader.

With the exception of the imam, all the Muslims and the Korean soldiers stood in a straight line to symbolize how all are equal before Allah and took a profession on faith.

They had memorized the Arabic confession, " Ashadu an La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur- Rasool-Allah," which means, "I testify that there is no god but God (Arabic: Allah), and Muhammad is the Messenger of God."

Moreover, as the faithful face the "Kaaba," the Islamic holy place in Makkah, Saudi Arabia , all Muslims confirm that they are brothers.

For those Korean soldiers who entered the Islamic faith, recent chances provided by the Zaitun Unit to come into contact with Islam proved decisive.

Taking into consideration the fact that most of the inhabitants of Irbil are Muslims, the unit sent its unreligious members to the Hannam-dong masjid so that they could come to understand Islam.. Some of those who participated in the program were entranced by Islam and decided to convert.

A unit official said the soldiers were inspired by how important religious homogeneity was considered in the Muslim World; if you share religion, you are treated not as a foreigner, but as a local, and Muslims do not attack Muslim women even in war.

Zaitun Unit Corporal Paek Seong-uk (22) of the Army's 11th Division said, "I majored in Arabic in college and upon coming across the Quran, I had much interest in Islam, and I made up my mind to become a Muslim during this religious experience period [provided by the Zaitun Unit]."

He expressed his aspirations. "If we are sent to Iraq, I want to participate in religious ceremonies with the locals so that they can feel brotherly love and convince them that the Korean troops are not an army of occupation but a force deployed to provide humanitarian support."