[Earlier Thursday, South
Korea said it was giving the North until Friday to respond to its proposal for
dialogue about the two countries’ joint industrial park or face a “grave
measure” by the South. The statement by the Unification Ministry stopped short
of saying whether South Korea was contemplating withdrawing 176 South Korean
managers still remaining in the factory park in North Korea or even terminating
the joint economic project, which has survived years of political tensions on
the divided Korean Peninsula.]
SEOUL, South Korea — On an anniversary known for military showmanship, North Korean
generals on Thursday declared that their forces were ready to launch
intercontinental ballistic missiles and kamikazelike nuclear attacks at the
United States if threatened.
“Stalwart pilots, once
given a sortie order, will load nuclear bombs, instead of fuel for return, and
storm enemy strongholds to blow them up,” the North’s official Korean Central
News Agency quoted its Air and Anti-Air Force commander, Ri Pyong-chol, as
saying during a ceremony in observance of the anniversary of the founding of
the North Korean People’s Army.
Another general, Kim
Rak-gyom, the Strategic Rocket Force commander, reiterated the claim that the
North is “one click away from pushing the launch button.”
“If the U.S.
imperialists and their followers dare make a pre-emptive attack, they will be
made to keenly realize what a real nuclear war and real retaliatory blows are
like,” he said.
Threats to launch
nuclear strikes and warnings of “nuclear holocaust” have become common since the country’s latest nuclear test, its third,
in February. Although North Korea is
believed to have a small nuclear weaponsarsenal,
most analysts doubt it could follow through on threats to deliver them to the
United States by missile.
One American
intelligence agency recently said it had “moderate confidence” that
the North had mastered the technology of building a weapon that could fit on a
missile warhead, but the Obama administration said that was not the consensus
among the United States’ 15 other intelligence agencies. Most analysts believe
that Kim Jong-un, the North’s leader, is using the nuclear bluster to
consolidate the support of his people and bolster his leverage in dealing with
Washington and its allies.
The threatening
statements come after days of relative quiet that followed weeks of warnings of
dire consequences if the United States and South Korea provoked the North. Mr.
Kim’s government was already angered by United Nations sanctions punishing it
for the nuclear test in February and by particularly robust joint exercises by
the American and South Korea militaries.
The timing of the latest
threats appeared to be tied to the military anniversary. North Korea’s
military, the backbone of Mr. Kim’s dynastic rule, has traditionally used the
date to swear its loyalty to the Kim family and vent its anti-American vitriol.
During the military
ceremony on Thursday, Mr. Kim saluted columns of soldiers marching past, and
airplanes made demonstration flights, the North Korean news agency said.
Earlier Thursday, South
Korea said it was giving the North until Friday to respond to its proposal for
dialogue about the two countries’ joint industrial park or face a “grave
measure” by the South. The statement by the Unification Ministry stopped short
of saying whether South Korea was contemplating withdrawing 176 South Korean
managers still remaining in the factory park in North Korea or even terminating
the joint economic project, which has survived years of political tensions on
the divided Korean Peninsula.
The future of the
project, the Kaesong Industrial Complex, located in the North Korean border
town of the same name, has been in doubt ever since North Korea pulled out its 53,000 workers in
early April. It also blocked supplies and South Korean managers who were south
of the border from entering the economic zone.
The number of South
Korean managers at Kaesong dwindled from the usual 900 to 176 as of Wednesday
as supplies were running out. On Thursday, the South Korean government said
that those who were still in Kaesong, hoping for the reopening of the complex,
would not be able to remain much longer.
A spokesman for the
government said that when it had tried Wednesday to send a letter to the North
asking permission to send emergency food and medical supplies to the South
Koreans in Kaesong, the North had not even accepted the document.
[Had the government been efficient on
its spending, half of the debt would have been reduced as the total debt stood
at Rs 523.20 billion and the cumulative questionable expenses have increased to
Rs 204.26 billion till the last fiscal year since 2002-03,” the report said.]
By Kuvera Chalise
KATHMANDU: How much is too much when it comes to per capita debt?
The state’s indebtedness in terms of per capita has increased by over 60 per
cent in the last six year, thanks to the government’s inefficiency.
Nepal’s per capita debt touched Rs 19,748 in the last fiscal year 2011-12,
according to the Auditor General’s report. The per capita debt in the fiscal
year 2005-06 was pegged at Rs 12,000.
“The increasing per capita debt will not only erode fixed income people’s
spending capacity but also country’s capacity to spend on human capital,” said
senior economist Bishwhambher Pyakuryal. The government’s capacity to spend on
social safety net like primary education and health will be hit hard due to
rising burden of debt, he said, adding that debt servicing and borrowing
capacity will also take a beating.
Had the government been efficient on its spending, half of the debt would have
been reduced as the total debt stood at Rs 523.20 billion and the cumulative
questionable expenses have increased to Rs 204.26 billion till the last fiscal
year since 2002-03,” the report said.
The country’s total loan till the last fiscal year 2011-12 was Rs 523.20
billion — including foreign loan of Rs 309.28 billion and domestic loan of Rs
213.92 billion, according to the 50th report of the Auditor General.
The total loan stood at Rs 443.62 billion — including Rs 259.50 billion
external loan and Rs 184.12 billion internal loan — till fiscal year 2010-11,
which was Rs 403.9 billion, including Rs 256.24 billion external loan and Rs
147.66 billion domestic loan, in the previous fiscal year 2009-10.
The alarming debt has, however, not shown its impact on either capital
formation or productive output that has raised doubts of misuse of resources,
as around 23 per cent of the foreign assistance is out of the government’s
sight, according to the Development Cooperation Report 2013.
“A lack of information with the government has made it difficult for it to
check how much of the loan has been used in capital formation,” the senior economist
added.
“Apart from some 20 per cent of the technical assistance that has been spent on
donors themselves on average, there is no harmonisation of the systems among
the government agencies on exchange rate calculation,” he said, adding that
some agencies calculate exchange rate on the basis of the date of borrowing,
whereas others calculate on the date of payment.
Likewise, the internal resources are also grossly misused, the Auditor
General’s report said, asking the government agencies to take serious action
against the responsible employees.
