Posted on 10/03/2006 3:41:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Ping!
N. Korea says it will conduct nuke test
By BO-MI LIM, Asssociated Press Writer
7 minutes ago
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Tuesday that it will conduct a nuclear test to bolster its self-defense capability amid what it calls increasing U.S. hostility toward the communist regime.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed," the North's Foreign Ministry said in the official English translation of its statement, using the acronym for country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The statement gave no precise date of when a test might occur.
Reacting swiftly to the announcement, Foreign Minister Taro Aso called North Korea's self-described nuclear test plan a threat to peace, and said a nuclear test would have graver implications than North Korean missile tests in July. Aso called the North's purported plan "totally unforgivable," and said Japan would react "sternly" if the North conducted a nuclear test, according to Kyodo News agency.
China, North Korea's neighbor, ally and chief benefactor, had no immediate comment. The North Korean announcement appeared to have caught Chinese officialdom off-guard, coming in the midst of a weeklong National Day holiday.
Pyongyang has said it has nuclear weapons, but is not known to have conducted any test to prove its claim. It has not mentioned a nuclear test in previous public statements.
"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," said the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The North's "nuclear weapons will serve as reliable war deterrent for protecting the supreme interests of the state and the security of the Korean nation from the U.S. threat of aggression and averting a new war and firmly safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula under any circumstances," the statement said.
Multilateral talks on the North's nuclear program have been stalled for almost a year. Pyongyang has boycotted the six-nation talks to protest U.S. financial restrictions imposed for its alleged illegal activity, including money laundering and counterfeiting.
The North said Tuesday that its ultimate goal is "to settle hostile relations between the DPRK and the U.S. and to remove the very source of all nuclear threats from the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity," accusing the U.S. of posing a nuclear threat in the region.
They are making a biiiiiig mistake to take on Abe and Bush on this, IMHO.
Talking about the sense of timing. He must enjoy the Armageddon set-up:)
He figures either he will die of syphillis or cancer, or be shot or bombed, so he is the kind of guy to go out in a blaze of glory. Totally suicidal maniac.
He actually lives the opera he scripted where he is the one big hero(soon to be tragic hero.) Production crews(N.K. people) are going through the hell in the process.:)
They may have no strategic goals in common with Iran, per se, but they both benefit from having more friends in the room, waving capes at the U.S. bull.
I agree. A good chance that Iran would do something simultaneously.
North Korea is in a very good position to draw heat away from Iran. They have a lot of practice in doing so for the PRC for so many years.
It's hard to focus on the big sleeping dog when the smaller rabid one is trying to bite you.
Kim Jong Il knows very well that a nuke test can be set up in short order. Unlike a ballistic missile test, it's next to impossible to detect until it happens. He also knows that, despite how hard we've been trying to ignore him, the tension is already built up. It's just built up for Iran. He can steal that in a heartbeat, by testing a nuclear weapon.
That will not only change the nature of the debate drastically. It will also make his subsequent episodes of sabre rattling seem more ominous. When he launches his next missile over Japan, the pucker factor will be a lot higher.
So, I wouldn't expect Iran and the DPRK to do something simultaneously. I would expect the DPRK to show up spoiling the party, right when it looks like Iran is in it's hottest water with the international community. All Kim wants to do is maximize his exposure, and he'll do so by stealing from Iran. Which is nice, because Iran simply wants to stall for time anyway, and will be glad to let Kim steal all the heat he wants.
Incidentally, two days from now, it is Thanksgiving Day in S. Korea. What a way to crash the party, although there is not much to crash this year due to serious economic downturn.:)
After the nuke test, when U.S. finally decides to close in on N. Korea, Iran could do something to draw U.S. focus away from N. Korea.
Exactly. It's just a question of who's closer to being eaten. It's in both of their interests to make sure that neither gets taken out. So, if the U.S. is bearing down on North Korea, Iran could stir up some trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bring the focus away from them for a while. Likewise, North Korea has a range of options to get our attention.
We are stuck in Iraq, insofar as we're not free to simply redirect those resources. That means we have a mobility weakness both nations can exploit, to keep us militarily off balance. "Rope a dope" works wonders, and they both are happy to try and pull it off, since both benefit from it.
One factor which can break this game by N. Korea and Iran is Abe's Japan. If Japan comes down real hard on China to pull a plug from N. Korea, N. Korea could die off.
Constitutional revision and rearming of Japan are their aces in the hole. Japan is relatively free from Mid-East situation unlike U.S.
I think Japan's move is as essential as U.S.'s in resolving N. Korea crisis.
oh common why dont they just offer france to do it for them
I think they're compelled to make certain their bombs work...
I dunno ... allies of convenience, and all that. There's definite advantage for both of them to act out their nuke ambitions in concert. Not only because it keeps the world's (i.e., our) attention divided, but also because I strongly suspect that they're collaborating on both the bombs and the delivery mechanisms.
"North Korea said Tuesday it will conduct a nuclear test in the future, claiming it is compelled to do so due to U.S. hostility."
So they wanna see some hostility do they? Time to vaporize North Korea.
Gee I have feeling Chia PEt don't want be ronaey he invitated US soldiers for Thanksgiving party smackdown
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.