Is US Military Using Drones to Spy on North Korea & China?

The U.S. military may soon begin using long-range surveillance drones to spy on North Korea and China.

Over the past week, the U.S. Air Force stationed two unarmed Global Hawk drones at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. The first drone touched down on May 24, Air Force officials said in a statement.

The drones will be used to gather intelligence data on nuclear sites in the notoriously reclusive country of North Korea, where 24 million people live sealed off from the rest of the world, reported the Associated Press. The Global Hawks also will likely monitor Chinese naval operations. [See photos of the Global Hawks' arrival in Japan]

The two drones are expected to remain in Japan until October, after which they will return to an American military base on the island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, according to Air Force officials. Lt. Gen. Sam Angelella, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, refused to discuss specific details of the clandestine drone operations in the Pacific, but said the Global Hawk's "capabilities are well known," reported the AP.
Global Hawk drones can fly at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet (18,300 meters), and are considered the Air Force's most advanced surveillance vehicles. The long-distance drones also boast impressive aerial endurance, and can perform flights that last more than 28 hours.
The planes are equipped with a range of instruments, including infrared sensors and satellite communication systems. The robotic flyers, which can provide near real-time imagery, are capable of surveying 40,000 square miles (103,000 square kilometers) of ground in one day.
A Global Hawk drone was previously used in the region to assist with disaster relief efforts in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan in 2011
"The Global Hawk was requested to support relief efforts within 48 hours of the disaster, prompting crews to prepare and launch aircraft only nine hours after official notification," Air Force officials said in a statement.
The drone flew over the Tohoku region and identified open roads and emergency landing zones for first responders. The plane's long-range and infrared cameras snapped more than 3,000 images of the earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged area.

NASA uses a version of the Global Hawk drones to peer inside hurricanes and tropical storms. The unmanned aircraft help scientists study the life cycles of extreme weather events, and enable researchers to develop more accurate models of these storms.

Pakistan launches Afghan airstrikes after attack

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban fighters attacked several Pakistani military posts along the Afghan border Saturday, sparking an hourslong gun battle that included Pakistan launching airstrikes into Afghanistan, authorities said. Pakistan said soldiers killed 16 militants, while Afghan officials said the airstrikes killed five civilians.

The fighting was the latest cross-border attack along the volatile and porous Pakistan-Afghanistan boundary and again tests the two countries' already uneasy relations.

Two Pakistani military officers blamed the local Pakistani Taliban for the attack, saying dozens of fighters from the group crossed into Pakistan overnight to stage the attack. A Foreign Ministry statement later said "over 200 terrorists" took part.

The insurgents attacks at least two military checkpoints in the northwestern tribal region of Bajur, killing one soldier and wounding two others, local government official Shah Naseem said. Naseem said the heavily armed attackers also targeted several military posts in the border village of Nao Top, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town in Bajur.

South Korea urges release of its missionary sentenced to life in North Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - The South Korean government urged North Korea on Sunday to release a South Korean missionary, Kim Jong Uk, who was sentenced to life with hard labor by a North Korean court on Friday.

"It is regrettable that North Korea went ahead with perfunctory trial procedures in a unilateral manner and gave our citizen severe punishment. We strongly urge North Korea to release and repatriate our citizen to South Korea as soon as possible," South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement.

North Korea sentenced Kim to life with hard labor on Friday after convicting him of espionage and setting up an underground church. North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported that the missionary had admitted his guilt at the court.

"We have demanded North Korea free and repatriate Kim on several occasions, but it has not responded to our and the international community's legitimate demand. This clearly violates the international norms as well as universal value of humanitarian spirit," the statement added.

In an apparent stage-managed confession, Kim admitted in February to spying for the South Korean intelligence agency as well as trying to topple North Korea's isolated regime.

Pyongyang has rejected calls from Seoul for his release and for his family to visit him.
"We once again urge North Korea to provide him with safety and convenience and allow his family and lawyers to visit him until he is repatriated," the South Korean statement said.
North Korea is still holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to use religion to overthrow its political system.

(Reporting by Narae Kim; Editing by Matt Driskill)

NATO to discuss reinforcing troops in Poland-German defense ministry

BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO defense ministers will discuss temporarily reinforcing their forces in Poland when they meet in Brussels this week, a spokesman for the German defense ministry said on Sunday.

It has not been decided whether the 28-member alliance will actually reinforce its Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin, the spokesman added.

In April Poland's defense minister said Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula made it vital that NATO station significant numbers of troops in eastern Europe and ignore any objections Russia might have.

Russia says deployment of significant NATO forces close to Russia would violate the 1997 Founding Act, an agreement between Moscow and the alliance.

Eastern European states nervous about Russia after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and massed 40,000 troops on Ukraine's borders. NATO is trying to provide reassurance with temporary deployments of military forces and exercises.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; additional reporting by Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Andrew Roche)