JAPAN: U.S. AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) surveillance plane and fighter aircraft take off from Kadena airbase on theSouthern Island of Okinawa since North Korea tested a nuclear device

A U.S. AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) surveillance plane took off at an airbase on Japan's Southern Island of Okinawa on Monday morning (October 23). Activity at the Kadena airbase has been on the rise since North Korea tested a nuclear device on October 9. Diplomatic activity has also been heightened as senior officials from Japan, China, South Korea, United States and Russia -- members of the six-party talks to disarm North korea -- held meetings to decrease tensions caused the test. News reports had raised hopes that tension was easing after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was quoted as telling Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan that he planned no further tests following the first one on Oct. 9 in defiance of international warnings. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, heading home after a whirlwind tour of Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Moscow, cast doubt on the reports about Kim, saying Pyongyang was bent on escalating the crisis. Diplomacy is set to continue this week with U.N. Secretary General-designate Ban Ki-moon's visit to Beijing on Friday (October 27).

ITN Source | October 23, 2006

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