Posted on 05/07/2005 12:35:06 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea nuclear test would be 'provocative': White House
59 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States warned that any nuclear weapons test by North Korea would be considered a provocative act, as reports suggested the Stalinist state could stage an underground nuclear experiment.
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The New York Times said in a report Friday that US officials familiar with satellite and intelligence data believed North Korea was building a reviewing stand and filling in a tunnel, signs of a potential underground nuclear test.
"I don't want to get into discussing intelligence matters, but what I would say is that if North Korea did take such a step, that would just be another provocative act that would further isolate it from the international community," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
He said all countries in the region wanted a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
The United States and North Korea's neighbours had been working through multilateral talks to meet the objective, he added.
"And so we want to see North Korea come back to the six-party talks and discuss, in a serious way, how to move forward on the proposal we've outlined," McClellan said.
Talks between the two Koreas, Russia, China, Japan and the United States on the North's nuclear programs have been stalled since a third round of talks last June.
The North has boycotted the talks, citing "hostile" US policy, and has publicly announced it has nuclear weapons and it could manufacture more.
NBC television, without citing sources, said the US military has drawn up plans for a possible preemptive strike against North Korea should Pyongyang appear ready to test a nuclear weapon.
The Pentagon has had B2 stealth bombers and F15e fighter jets on alert in the Pacific since September, as part of a contingency plan, the report said, adding that US allies in the region strongly oppose the military option.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned Friday that a North Korean test blast would be "nuclear blackmail" and world leaders should get on the phone to dissuade Pyongyang from going ahead with it.
North Korea needs "to understand that the international community has zero tolerance for any new country to go for a nuclear weapon," ElBaradei told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of a non-proliferation conference in New York.
Media reports have said that the North has been preparing an underground nuclear test since March and might conduct one as early as June.
A senior US intelligence official, who has seen recent satellite images taken of Kilchu, in northeastern North Korea, told the New York Times that tunnels for underground nuclear tests differed from those for mines as they need to be plugged up again to contain the powerful blast.
"You see them stemming the tunnel, taking material back into the mine to plug it up," said the unnamed official, a specialist in nuclear analysis. "There's a lot of activity," he added, "taking stuff in as opposed to taking it out."
Commenting on the report, acting State Department spokesman Tom Casey said "we certainly don't have any new assessment of North Korea's nuclear program."
A senior department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected the idea that the United States had "any new or startling assessment of what they may or may not be trying to do."
According to the Times report, the images also showed the construction of a reviewing stand, which officials said appeared luxurious by North Korean standards, several miles from the suspected test site.
A reviewing stand for visiting dignitaries is considered a significant clue to a possible nuclear test after Western intelligence overlooked one the North Koreans had built before they launched a missile in 1998.
North Korea is believed to have one or two crude nuclear bombs, according to US intelligence reports.
International jitters were heightened last Sunday when North Korea test-fired a short-range missile, although US, South Korean and Japanese officials refused to link the incident to Pyongyang's drive for nuclear arms.
Even if that is so, and I say this as somone who lives in Seattle, North Korea must be taken down by any means necessary. The risk of inaction is far greater than the risk of action to stop them right now.
I like that idea :D
Bingo!
More to the point, who is Kim going to place on the "reviewing" stand?
I'm all for a US preemptive strike.
However, this would cause a massive disruption in our relations with the current government of South Korea. That might not be such a bad thing, by the way: the current ROK government is completely deluded and backward in its very conciliatory attitude toward North Korea. I've had South Korean army generals tell me they were appalled at their own government's "diplomacy" (surrender) toward Pyongyang. These same generals said they doubted whether young draftees in the ROK army could even fight.
That's scary. Something's obviously happened to South Korea in recent years to cause it to lose its balls. Guess we're going to have to shoulder the entire load.
Yes, there is such a concern. Deeply troubling.
"North Korea is a bigger threat compared to Iraq. And now all we do is to threaten sanctions. North koreans are good with playing words. While these "word wars" are going on, lots of poor peasants starve to death and the range of North Korea's nuclear weapons is inching closer towards the West Coast."
I would move away from the San Francisco and LA area. Funny thing is if NK did strike California with a nuke and wipe out Frisco, The Democrat party would lose 55 electoral votes?
Wonder if they thought about that yet.
Well, they just have to blame Bush for it.:-)
The US ain't gonna attack N Korea anytime soon. Problem is Pyongyang holds Seoul - home to a full 25% of S Korea's population, by the jugular. Seoul's just a few miles from the DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) and is well within range of the North's Arty shells possibly laced with deadly chem. weaponry...
Subs could take this out. Why risk pilots ?
I would hope so. I want the White House to be ready for any possible scenario.
However, Seoul is also well-prepared for a full-scale North Korean invasion, too. This especially in light of the fact North Korea artillery can easily reach at least the northern parts of the city.
They want to sell the nukes. I think the real fear is that they would become a source for terrorists.
Under present circumstances we will be pressed to do the next best thing, file a stern protest against N Korea in the security council of the UN. That'll show 'em! (/sarcasm)
Despite the fact this entire development was aided and abetted by Bill Clinton and his worthless crew of feckless Liberals, George Bush and the Conservatives are going to take all the heat on this one when this one blows up!
A nuclear strike by North Korea against the United States or any of the industrialized nations in the Pacific would have the same effect as a nuclear strike by any surrogate terrorist, armed by North Korea, against the United States or any of the industrialized nations in the Pacific. What is preventing the United States and Europe from acting more decisively on any terrorist threat or the proliferation of nuclear weapons is the antiwar movement that is strong in Western democracies. When there is massive devastation due to a nuclear strike, the antiwar movement will lose supporters. This happened during World War I and II where the antiwar movement was never heard.
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