US Defense Secretary Says NKorea Still a Threat
The U.S. defense secretary said Thursday that North Korea continues to pose a grave threat to international peace and pledged to protect South Korea with Washington's full military might, including its nuclear weapons.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Tae-young, said their two nations will never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state. They accused the regime of undermining global security with its nuclear defiance.
"The United States will continue to provide extended deterrence, using the full range of military capabilities, including the nuclear umbrella to ensure" South Korea's security, Gates told Kim ahead of their formal talks.
North Korea has long demanded that the U.S. withdraw its "nuclear umbrella" from South Korea, calling it an attempt to invade the country with atomic bombs and evidence that Washington is "hostile" toward it. The communist regime has argued it needs atomic weapons to cope with what it calls "U.S. nuclear threats."
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly denied having any intention to attack the North.
"In addition to the traditional military threat, North Korea's ballistic missiles and emerging nuclear weapons programs have a destabilizing effect both regionally and internationally," Gates told a joint news conference. "We will stand together."
The strong, united stance from the two top defense officials comes amid signs of possible softening by North Korea after months of tension over the regime's nuclear and missile programs.
After defying calls for restraint and carrying out nuclear and missile tests earlier this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said recently that his country could rejoin international disarmament talks, depending on the status of direct talks with the U.S.
North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator, Ri Gun, was on his way to the U.S. for forums in California and New York next week, and reportedly is expected to meet with the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim.
The South Korean defense minister said regardless of the recent overtures, the threat from the North remains intact.
"Although on the surface there are signs of some change from North Korea, including its recent willingness to talk, in reality the unstable situation such as the nuclear program and the military-first policy remains unchanged," Kim Tae-young said.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Pyongyang to take "verifiable, irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization."
"Its leaders should be under no illusion that the United States will ever have normal, sanctions-free relations with a nuclear-armed North Korea," she told members of the U.S. Institute of Peace think tank in Washington.
The United States has about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help defend against the North, which technically remains at war with South Korea because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
Gates and Kim said they agreed to cooperate closely on implementing two U.N. Security Council resolutions that seek to stop North Korea from engaging in ballistic missile activity and in working toward bringing North Korea back to the disarmament talks that involve Russia, Japan, China, the U.S. and the two Koreas.
中古マンション、１都３県そろって値上がり 21カ月ぶり
不動産情報会社の東京カンテイ（東京・品川）が22日まとめた９月の中古マンション販売動向によると、首都圏（東京・神奈川・千葉・埼玉）の平均売り出し価格は2794万円だった。８月に比べて2.0％の上昇で、２カ月連続で前月を上回った。１都３県のうち、８月に唯一値下がりしていた埼玉県も上昇に転じた。１都３県でそろって上昇するのは2007年12月以来、21カ月ぶりという。同社は「急落状況は脱したが、上昇が続くかどうかは不透明」（市場調査部）と分析している。
都県別にみると、東京は1.7％、神奈川は2.0％、千葉は1.8％、それぞれ上昇した。埼玉も８月の0.1％下落から0.8％の上昇に転じた。近畿圏（大阪・兵庫）は1.1％上がって1807万円、中部圏（愛知）は0.9％下がって1510万円となった。
調査は専有面積30平方メートル以上の家族向けの物件を対象に、70平方メートルあたりの価格に換算して集計した。中古マンションの価格は地価との連動性が高いとされる。 (16:00)
印タタ自動車の低価格車「ナノ」、発火事故相次ぐ
【ニューデリー＝黒沼勇史】世界最安車として７月に納車が始まったインドタタ自動車の超低価格車「ナノ」で、発火事故が起きていることが分かった。死傷者は出ていないが、運転席付近から火が噴く事故が20日までに印国内で３件発生。21日に事故を報じた現地メディアは「全車共通の問題でなくリコール（回収・無償修理）はしない」という同社関係者のコメントを伝えた。
事故は北部ウッタルプラデシュ州と西部グジャラート州で各１件報告され、20日夜には首都ニューデリーで３件目が起きた。いずれも自宅などで駐車中に発火した。同社は１、２例目の原因をスイッチ結合部の回路のショートだと分析。納車前や納車済みのナノについて安全性を調査するとしているが、今後の受注拡大計画が大幅に遅れる可能性が浮上してきた。
ナノは最も安い装備で、価格は１台約11万ルピー（約22万円）。４人乗り小型車で、助手席側のバックミラーなどを省いてコストを抑えている。既に7500台を納車、10万台を受注済み。 (12:35)
