Posted on 08/18/2006 5:54:55 PM PDT by garbageseeker
CAMP DAVID, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush warned North Korea against nuclear testing but would not say whether he had information confirming that preparations for such a test were under way.
"It's a hypothetical question," Bush told reporters. "And you're asking me to divulge intelligence information I have. I'm not going to do that, as you know."
But he added: "If North Korea were to conduct a test, it's just a constant reminder for people in the neighborhood, in particular, that North Korea poses a threat."
The US television network ABC reported on Thursday that North Korea may be preparing to conduct an underground test of a nuclear bomb.
"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is real possibility," the network quoted a senior US State Department official as saying.
A senior military official told ABC that an unidentified US intelligence agency had recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.
The activity included the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea, it said.
ABC said cables can be used in nuclear testing to connect an underground test site to observation equipment.
It said the intelligence had been brought to the attention of the White House last week but cautioned that it was "not conclusive."
An imminent nuclear test was predicted in North Korea last year but no test occurred.
ABC said underground nuclear tests are "notoriously difficult" to detect ahead of time and noted that the United States had failed to predict nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in 1998.
North Korea claims to have built nuclear weapons and sparked international alarm last month by test-firing seven ballistic missiles.
In Huntsville, Alabama on Tuesday the head of the US missile defense agency said he expects to make recommendations in a matter of months on where to position interceptor missiles and radar in Europe to best protect against the threat of Iranian missiles.
The European site would be the first expansion outside of the United States of an unproven US missile defense system that currently is aimed at thwarting a limited long-range missile attack by North Korea.
"We are facing a real threat," General Henry Obering said in a speech in Huntsville. "It is one that is growing. It is one that I consider to be one of the preeminent threats we'll face in the 21st century."
Obering's comments came just weeks after North Korea test fired a long-range Taepo-dong 2 missile and six shorter range Nodong and Scud-type missiles.
Although the long-range missile test failed early in flight, the others were successful.
"And so we have to be careful that we don't jump to the wrong conclusions about it. Even though they had a failure in a long range test does not mean they don't have capability," Obering said.
I once heard that nuke-testing is China's red line, more specifically, PLA's red line. Still, they may also have shifted their red line, since I heard about this info.
Anyway, I am really interested in how Chinese would react. This is a big deal, but would they really act to counter it? We will see. It depends a lot on how Japan responds.
If Japan looks really angry, China will do something about it.
S. Korean gov would be in a tailspin. Their almost decade-long appeasement policy would be shattered for good. The government would like to find a way to shift blame to Japan or U.S. or even domestic opposition. Or they may claim what is done is really done, accept the reality and move on, which will outrage many in S. Korea.
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