SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 14--North Korea's declaration that it possesses nuclear weapons does not make it a nuclear weapons state, Reuters quoted South Korea's unification minister as saying on Monday.
Last week, North Korea explicitly said for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons. The reclusive, communist state also said it was pulling out of six-party talks on its nuclear programs because of what it called US hostility.
"We see it as a claim to own nuclear weapons, not an official statement of being a nuclear weapons state," Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told parliament. Chung also heads South Korea's National Security Council, which advises President Roh Moo-hyun.
There was no evidence of nuclear testing by the North and it was premature to conclude North Korea possessed nuclear weapons, Chung said.
"There is no doubt that North Korea has 10 to 14 kg of plutonium, but there is no evidence that the North has turned it into plutonium bombs," Chung said.
The US State Department had no immediate comment.
Pyongyang is probably seeking to boost its negotiating position in the stalled six-country talks by making the declaration, Chung said.
South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia met for three rounds of the talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs in return for aid and security guarantees. A planned fourth round never materialized.
The North's declaration presents a major challenge to South Korea, the United States and China, which has played a lead role over several years in efforts to disarm its isolated neighbor.
A senior Chinese communist party official is expected to visit Pyongyang soon to press for the resumption of the talks.
South Korea and the United States are hoping China can persuade the North to go back to the stalled talks, but analysts questioned whether China's influence on its communist neighbor was strong enough to convince the North.

Ariel Sharon

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Feb. 14--Responding to death threats against government ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered law enforcement agencies Sunday to crack down on Jewish extremists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, AP reported.
Cabinet ministers said the charged climate is reminiscent of the period before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. One minister warned Sharon himself could become a target. Extremists have put up posters across the country that say Rabin and the prime minister's deceased wife, Lily, are "waiting for Sharon."
Despite the concerns, Sharon's Cabinet approved a list of 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in coming days, and several hundred Palestinian workers were permitted to return to jobs in Israel in line with agreements reached at a Mideast summit last week.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, was to present a new Cabinet to his Fatah movement for approval Tuesday. Abbas was expected to appoint new interior, foreign and information ministers but keep on many current government members, officials said.
In an upbeat interview to be published in Monday's edition of The New York Times, Abbas said the war with the Israelis is effectively over and that Sharon is speaking "a different language" to the Palestinians.
Abbas spoke proudly of persuading the groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to respect the truce he and Sharon announced last Tuesday at their first meeting, in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt--the highest-level meeting between Israelis and Palestinians in four years.
"Today our comrades in Hamas and Jihad said they are committed to the truce, the cooling down of the whole situation, and I believe we will start a new era," Abbas told the newspaper.
Israeli officials have voiced concerns about Jewish extremist opposition to the pullout plan for months. But with this summer's planned withdrawal quickly approaching and a recent warming of ties with the Palestinians, the level of alarm has been raised.
Sharon instructed law enforcement agencies to report back to the Cabinet as soon as possible with steps that can be taken to "rein in the violent rampage" of extremists opposing his plan, a statement said.

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 14--UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed Sunday for Europe and the United States to back a major overhaul of global security measures to combat terrorism, keep weapons of mass destruction from spreading and quell regional conflicts, AP reported.
The UN plans call for tougher inspection rules for nuclear installations, a trust fund to help poorer nations fight terrorism, a drive to strengthen public health defenses against germ warfare and quicker action against potential threats.
"We must strengthen our collective defenses," Annan told an international conference of top security officials as he lobbied for approval of the new steps following the deep divisions that plagued the United Nations over the Iraq war in 2003.
"If New York or London or Paris or Berlin were hit by a nuclear terrorist attack, it might not only kill hundreds of thousands in an instant," he said. "It could also devastate the global economy, thereby plunging millions into poverty in developing nations."
Annan suggested incentives for nations to stop uranium enrichment that could be used to make nuclear bombs. He also said UN nations should adopt a common definition of terrorism and draft an anti-terrorism convention, which should include financial help for nations to meet counterterrorism commitments.
"The United Nations must show zero tolerance of terrorism of any kind, for any reason," Annan said.
Annan has invited world leaders to a summit at UN headquarters in September to approve the plans.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer broadly backed Annan's security reform plans and urged the United States, as the world's most powerful nation, to play a leading role.
But Fischer, whose government vehemently opposed the Iraq war, rejected calls for NATO to play a security role in Iraq by offering to protect UN operations there.
"I don't see any added value for NATO in Iraq," he said, replying to a suggestion by Sen. Joseph Lieberman , D-Conn., who was at the conference.

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 14--Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the United States of delaying delivery of spare parts for his country's F-16 fighter planes as he looks to other countries for arms and military supplies, Reuters reported.
The charges are the latest broadside against Washington from Chavez, a left-wing former army officer who often clashes with the United States over his rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Chavez, whose anti-capitalist stance and close ties to Cuban leader Fidel Castro raised concerns in Washington, said Venezuela would not accept conditions to maintain its squadron of US-made aircraft.
His comments came just hours before he was to meet Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to sign a bilateral accord, including possible deals for Tucano military aircraft made by Brazilian firm Embraer .
"The country should know the US government is delaying supply of parts for the aircraft and slowly their operational level has dropped," Chavez said on his regular Sunday television program. "We are going to make some of the Tucanos that are made in Brazil, but Brazil is not going to impose any conditions on us," he said.
A US embassy official in Caracas had no immediate comment on Chavez's charges.
Venezuela remains a key oil supplier to the United States, but Chavez has moved to dilute his country's traditional reliance on Washington and courted alternative commercial partners such as China, Russia, Iran and Brazil. Venezuela recently agreed to buy 100,000 automatic rifles and 40 military helicopters from Russia and is studying whether to purchase Russian MiG-29 fighters to replace its F-16s.
The US government, which brands Chavez a negative influence in the region, says it is concerned the Russian arms could be used to aid leftist Colombian rebels it says are terrorists.

MOSCOW, Feb. 14--Europe's top human rights body said Monday that Russia still failed to meet its standards and rejected a demand by Moscow to stop checking on Russian compliance of the 46-nation organization's code of ethics, AFP reported.
Setting the stage for another spat between Western-run rights and democracy groups and Moscow, the Council of Europe's Secretary General Terry Davis said ahead of talks with Russian officials that Moscow still lacked respect for human rights.
"Russia has not yet kept all the promises that were made when Russia joined the Council of Europe. And that is why monitoring still takes place," he said in an interview with the Moscow Echo radio.
In particular, Davis said that Russia had broken a pledge to abolish the death penalty and he condemned recent calls by pro-Kremlin lawmakers to introduce the death penalty for "terrorists" in the wake of the Beslan school hostage siege.
Russia suspended the death penalty in 1996 on joining the Council of Europe, which bans the practice, though it has yet to ratify the sixth protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights that would formally abolish it.
"We do not want to descend, to go down to the level of terrorists. We respect human rights, one of the important human rights is the right to life.
"And as just as I condemn terrorists for killing people, so I encourage Russia not to break its promise and use the death penalty for terrorists," said Davis, who began a three-day visit to Russia on Monday.
Russia on Sunday had demanded an end to monitoring by the Council of Europe, saying it wanted to be treated like any other member of the pan-European body.

Illegal immigrants gather near a fence at a detention camp, outside Kuala Lumpur, September 6. (Reuters File Photo)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia,
Feb. 14--Malaysia on Monday gave illegal immigrants two more weeks to leave the country, delaying a planned crackdown for the third time in a concession to poorer neighbor Indonesia, home for most of them, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the concession in talks with visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has resisted a sudden influx of needy people as his country recovers from the Dec 26. tsunami.
About 230,000 people are thought to have died in Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra island, a ferry boat ride from Malaysia, when the tsunami hit its west coast. Many of the Indonesians working illegally in Malaysia may have no home to return to.
"We understand the problems related to this, especially those on Aceh," Abdullah told a joint news conference after the talks in Malaysia's capital. Neither he nor Yudhoyono took questions.
"The operation to advise them to take advantage of the amnesty will be heightened. After February, if they are still here actions will be taken starting March 1," Abdullah said.
Up to 600,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Indonesian, are believed to be in Malaysia, meeting the labor-short country's chronic need for cheap, semi-skilled workers at construction sites, factories, restaurants and hotels.
Nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to have left Malaysia under the 3-1/2-month amnesty, immigration official Ishak Mohamed has said, but another 200,000-600,000 are thought to remain.
Popular with sweat-shop employers, they are blamed by ordinary Malaysians for crime, the growth of shanty settlements and spread of disease. They are also resented for repatriating their wages rather than spending the money in Malaysia.
Yudhoyono welcomed the gesture--and glossed over Jakarta's recent threat to sue Malaysian employers who failed to pay or mistreated their Indonesian workers.
"What is important for us, with the agreement that we just reached, is that for the remaining time in February we can take the right steps so that, Inshallah (God willing), when we enter March, this fundamental problem can be overcome and solved," Yudhoyono said.

LONDON, Feb. 14-- Six Moroccan soldiers serving as UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested over sex abuse claims, BBC quoted Moroccan officials as saying.
The head of the Moroccan contingent of UN peacekeepers and his deputy have also been relieved of their duties.
The move follows an inquiry by the UN into repeated allegations that its peacekeepers in DR Congo have sexually exploited and abused women and girls.
The six were sent as part of a UN force meant to protect civilians.
Instead it is alleged that the peacekeepers sexually abused Congolese children.
The Moroccan government's announcement of their arrest was immediately welcomed by the UN mission in Congo.
The spokesman, Mamadou Bah, said the organization hoped the action taken by Morocco would serve as an example to all nations contributing troops in DR Congo.
The allegations over the past year that peacekeepers have sexually exploited women and girls, including bribing children with food in return for sex, have been highly damaging for the UN.
Last month a team investigated 72 allegations of abuse by UN peacekeepers and civilian staff. Twenty-six of these were substantiated.
In response, the UN introduced a non-fraternization policy, banning its peacekeepers from having sex with local people.
But UN officials stressed they had no power to discipline peacekeepers.
They can only send them home and request that the country of origin takes action.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb. 14--Nepal's royalist government renewed its appeal for peace talks with Maoist rebels as a blockade called by the guerrillas reduced traffic in and out of the capital to a trickle, AFP quoted officials as saying.
The rebels declared the blockade in protest at King Gyanendra's power grab on February 1 when he sacked the government, appointed a pro-royalist cabinet headed by himself and declared a state of emergency.
The Maoists say the blockade, which so far is being enforced by threats of violence rather than a physical show of force, will continue until Gyanendra reverses his actions that have been condemned at home and abroad.
As the blockade which began at the weekend continued, the government urged the Maoists to join mainstream politics and abandon their armed struggle to topple the monarchy which has left more than 11,000 dead since February 1996.