Posted on 10/08/2006 8:07:00 PM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Just reported on CNN via South Korea television news.
U.S. commander fears N. Korea would sell nukes
Fair use
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...4259-1344r.htm
November 18, 2003
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
SEOUL — North Korea poses a regional danger because the communist regime is likely to sell its nuclear arms and expertise to rogue states or terrorists, the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said yesterday.
"North Korea is a known proliferator of military technology," said Army Gen. Leon LaPorte in an interview with reporters. "We believe that nothing would prevent them from selling weapons-grade nuclear material to other countries, rogue nations or terrorist organizations."
That could lead to terrorist groups obtaining and using nuclear bombs.
"That's the concern that we have relative to North Korea's nuclear program," Gen. LaPorte said.
North Korea's large military has outdated conventional equipment, but is backed by an estimated 800 missiles and nuclear weapons.
The North Korean military ranks No. 1 in the world in terms of submarine forces, special operations commandos and artillery, he said.
While the North Korean navy and air force are not well-armed, the ground forces are very powerful, Gen. LaPorte said.
North Korea's "asymmetric threat" lies in its 120,000 special forces commandos and its chemical weapons.
"Their doctrine is to use chemical weapons as a standard munition," he said.
A key worry is North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and missiles, the four-star general said.
"And our concern is that they have nearly 800 missiles," he said. "The missiles themselves are a very significant asymmetrical threat. But if that was combined with a nuclear capability, now you have a capability that not only threatens the Korean Peninsula, but the entire region."
Gen. LaPorte and other senior U.S. military leaders took part in military committee talks with South Korean military leaders, coinciding with civilian defense talks.
The key issue discussed at the talks was the relocation of the 7,000 U.S. troops at more than 10 facilities in Seoul.
South Korean officials want to keep some of the troops in the city, while Pentagon officials plan to leave a small number and move the rest farther south, a senior defense official said.
"It will be way less than a thousand," said the official referring to the remaining troops.
Gen. LaPorte said the South Koreans would take over security at the truce village of Panmunjom sometime in the fall of 2005, while they would probably assume responsibility for countering North Korean artillery by October 2004.
As for enhancing U.S. capabilities, the Pentagon is spending $11 billion over the next several years on new weapons and equipment, including Apache attack helicopters, Stryker combat vehicles and high-speed ships that can move troops quickly.
South Korea, for its part, is buying U.S. surface-to-surface short-range missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS.
South Koreans also are planning to purchase advanced Patriot PAC-3 antimissile systems.
Gen. LaPorte said the decrease in the 37,000 U.S. troops based in South Korea may be "one of the payoffs" of the multiyear program to realign bases and add new forces.
hopefully...so far it isn't as big a news as I thought it would be....probably they took measures to "contain it" to keep it from going wildly against N. Korea and be a news story for weeks.
Hopefully it will dominate the news.
Thanks. In a sick sort of way, it's actually a very attractive picture.
The guy on FNC said that 400 kilitons is a ridiculous output-- 20x the yield dropped on Nagasaki. NK, according to SK's knowledge of US intel, has already test nuked Alaska-- managing to get a long-range missile there. Anything close to a Nagasaki yield in Alaska would be a real issue.
Yes, we could easily do a naval blockade.
NK and Iran, not Iraq, should've been our focus all along, but we went for the easier target. If we do nothing more about this than talk through the UN, we are in serious trouble.
Kim's nuclear capability
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/kims-nuclear-capability/2006/10/09/1160246051092.html
A conservative estimate would be that North Korea has enough fissile material for at least six to eight nuclear weapons, proliferation experts have said, with some saying it could have enough for more than a dozen.
We have sea launched nuke tipped tomahawks we don't need to send BUFF'S over.
Breaking News: Bush Administraton: "The nuking of Portland or the San Fransicko Gay Area would be viewed as a complete provocation that would meet with our sternest rebuke!"...Yeah take that!
Is anyone else glad this is NOT happening on Kofi Annan's watch? At least there's the hope the new guy won't suck as bad.
We'll have to lose a city before we get serious about this.
Breaking: Condi: "We would engage the North Koreans if they try to come over the Rocky mountains, we will not surrender the heartland!".
You are correct about the Democrats being soft on the military and being big spenders, but Bush has spent more than Clinton did, and the Repubs have held all the power for years now, and have done nothing about the NK and Iranian nuclear programs but talk. So the question becomes, how many years does the GOP have to control the WH, Senate and Congress before people begin to understand that they haven't done anything about these renegade nations' nuclear programs either? America lacks strong leadership in this crucial period in history, that's pretty clear.
Sounds like Cali is on their own
I agree.
What would we do attack NK, risk an attack on our soil?
There isn't much we can do at this point, militarily, though we can start the process of isolating N.K even further in the world.
As for those who say they probably didn't test it and this is all a joke, even Kim is not so nuts as to fake a nuclear test.
This is real.
I support the president, and democrats would probably sell NK the nuke technology but - I think many Americans are shaking their heads and losing faith in the administration's willingness to act. Plainly the aggressiveness that existed after 9-11 has dissipated. And it was the aggressiveness that worked.
The gold market is open in Hong Kong as I write. Nothing out of the ordinary, FWIW.
That should be our response once we have determined through our detection technology that they are getting ready to launch a missle - whether they have a nuke on the missle or not, they have the potential and should face our nukes before they can launch theirs.
TOKYO (AP) Japan's top government spokesman says reported North Korean nuclear test is serious threat and provocation to stability in the region if confirmed.
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