US accuses Russia and China over North Korea bomb

Guardian ^ | Roland Watson i

[Ranger]

October 19, 2002

A South Korean war veteran takes part in a protest south of Seoul following the disclosure that North Korea has a nuclear weapons programme

US accuses Russia and China over North Korea bomb
By Roland Watson in Washington and Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

RUSSIA, China and Pakistan supplied crucial parts to North Korea’s covert nuclear weapons programme, American officials said yesterday.

The White House issued a thinly veiled warning to all three to distance themselves rapidly from Pyongyang’s quest for weaponised uranium or risk Washington’s wrath.

Addressing North Korea’s major trading partners, Ari Fleischer, President Bush’s spokesman, said: “These countries want improved relations with the United States and they have no interest in a nuclearised North Korea.”

Two of the State Department’s top officials were in Beijing yesterday, urging China to use diplomatic and economic leverage on North Korea to stabilise the situation after the Stalinist state’s potentially volatile disclosure. John Bolton, the Undersecretary of State, will tomorrow give the same message in Moscow before going to London and Paris for talks with the world’s other major nuclear powers. As part of the US diplomatic response, Jim Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for Asian Affairs, will leave China for South Korea and Japan, two alarmed American allies in the region.

It was not clear how far the US was accusing Moscow, Beijing and Islamabad of allowing parts to be sent to Pyongyang, or blaming lax security for the trade. US officials think that technology for the gas centrifuges needed to make weapons-grade uranium came from more than one country.

North Korea promised to freeze its nuclear weapons programme in 1994, but admitted this month that it had pressed ahead, the White House said on Wednesday. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, believes North Korea succeeded in producing some nuclear weapons.

US officials think Pakistan’s involvement in the North Korean programme dates from the late 1990s. In return for its nuclear technology, Pakistan is suspected of receiving North Korean-made missiles to counter India’s nuclear arsenal.

President Musharraf denied helping North Korea. “There is no such thing as collaboration with North Korea in the nuclear arena,” he said.

A top Pakistani nuclear scientist was suspected of having links with North Korea when General Musharraf sacked him in 2000. Abdul Qadir Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, was allegedly sacked after the US told Islamabad some Pakistani scientists may be involved in nuclear co-operation with North Korea.

Dr Khan was the founding head of Khan Research Laboratories, Pakistan’s top uranium enrichment plant, and also in charge of a ballistic missile programme developed with North Korea.

Government sources in Islamabad confirmed that for the past four years the US had warned Pakistan about suspected nuclear links with North Korea. The Bush Administration remained determined to prevent the disclosure from escalating into a crisis while its energies are focused on President Saddam Hussein and the worldwide threat from al-Qaeda. The White House kept secret North Korea’s admission for nearly a fortnight so as not to distract from the congressional debate authorising Mr Bush to use force against Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice, Mr Bush’s National Security Adviser, said that the US did not have to force a showdown similar to that with Iraq because both countries were part of the “axis of evil”. She said: “We have other ways to deal with North Korea.”

But many Republicans were pressuring Mr Bush to toughen his stance against North Korea. Some urged a complete reassessment of US policy towards the country, ending attempts to lure it into the open.

[marvlus]

Only if North Korea will allow inspections, otherwise NK is next in line after Iraq for military action.

[Backlash042]

I know I've posted messages about this before, but what about Presidential Determination No. 2002-12 where President Bush OK'd $95 million to North Korea for their Nuclear Power program? Yes it was Clinton's deal, but why did Bush have to continue with it? I'm still scratching my head on this one. Did he rescind PD No. 2002-12? Perhaps I read it wrong and I'm getting all worked up over nothing . . . I sure hope so.

[HadEnough]

The American people elected impeached traitor Bill Clinton, not once...but TWICE. So who is really to blame here?? The sick, sexual predator traitor who sent millions of taxpayers dollars to finance these nuclear weapons or the millions of taxpayers who were more concerned about buying a new SUV and their 401Ks than electing someone who would protect them from Stalinist killers?

[piasa]

Unlike Clinton's deal, this one was contingent on North Korea allowing in inspectors and Bush was going to hold them to it- the administration knew it was unlikely the North would comply, because North Korea had become accustomed to not having to carry out its end of the deal over most of the last decade. North Korea's failure to do so would be an excuse for the US to back out of the agreement.

That's why the administration went to North Korea and confronted the North Koreans. If Bush had wanted to do just as Clinton had, the Bush administration wouldn't have confronted the North but instead would have pretended everything was A-OK, and no one would have been the wiser.

[piasa]

In Clinton's case, the deal was contingent on North Korean inspections but was not enforced.

[Mr. Mojo]

RUSSIA, China and Pakistan supplied crucial parts to North Korea’s covert nuclear weapons programme, American officials said yesterday.

And Russia is now doing exactly the same thing for Iran (another one of the "axis of evil" nations), and we're not doing a damn thing about it. ...the beat goes on...

[Backlash042]

My gripe with Presidential Determination No. 2002-12 is the part about waiving certain requirements. Here's the printer freindly version from the whitehouse.gov page:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/print/20020402-13.html

------------------------------------

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 2, 2002

Memorandum to the Secretary of State
Presidential Determination No. 2002-12
April 1, 2002

SUBJECT: U.S. Contribution to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization Determination Regarding Funds Under the Heading "Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs" in Title II of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2002 (public Law 107-115)

Pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 565(c) of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2002 (public Law 107-115) (the "Act"), I hereby determine that it is Vital to the national security interests of the United States to furnish Up to $95 million in funds made available under the heading "Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs" of that Act, for assistance to KEDO, and, therefore, I hereby waive the requirement in section 565(b) to certify that:

(1) the parties to the Agreed Framework have taken and continue to take demonstrable steps to implement the Joint Declaration on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula;

(2) North Korea is complying with all provisions of the Agreed Framework; and

(3) The United States is continuing to make significant progress on eliminating the North Korean ballistic missile threat, including further missile tests and its ballistic missile exports.

You are hereby authorized and directed to report this determination and the accompanying Memorandum of Justification to the Congress, and to arrange for publication of this determination in the Federal Register.

GEORGE W. BUSH

# # #

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[TLBSHOW]

Nuke N. KOREA Then Iraq and Iran and Syria will surrender!

[Davea]

Iraq, Iran, Syria, N Korea now China and Russia. This is shaping up to become a world war.

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Orion78]

BUMP