They tested their Disintegrating Pistol yesterday.
The test was a complete success... they pulled the trigger, and it disintegrated.
Posted on 10/12/2006 12:10:32 PM PDT by UnsinkableMollyBrown
NORTH Korea has again raised the stakes in its game of nuclear poker by threatening to test a hydrogen bomb that would be even more powerful than a nuclear device. The new high card has been played by North Korea's unofficial spokesman in Tokyo, Kim Myong-chol, who, aside from threatening an even bigger bomb as a "countermeasure", said that another nuclear test was the thing that "first comes to mind".
It is news bound to rattle regional leaders who are rapidly running out of aces. The leaders of South Korea and China will meet today in Beijing about North Korea, their first face-to-face meeting since Monday's nuclear test. Mr Kim's choice of words was in line with the comments of a senior North Korean diplomat who also spoke darkly of "countermeasures" particularly aimed at Japan. "The specific contents will become clear if you keep watching. We never speak empty words," said North Korea's ambassador for diplomatic normalisation with Japan, Song Il-ho, in an interview yesterday with Japan's Kyodo News Agency in Pyongyang.
North Korea was angered by a new round of economic sanctions imposed by Japan that amount to a virtual trade blockade. The measures ban North Korean ships, imports and travel visas and come on top of earlier sanctions on commercial ties and financial transactions. It will have the effect of cutting North Korea's access to its third biggest market, according to government officials in Tokyo.
Mr Song said that Tokyo's sanctions hurt more than others because Japan had never atoned for its colonisation of the Korean Peninsula between 1920 and 1945 and that was a factor that would be "calculated in" as Pyongyang planned its retribution, he said. The reference to "colonisation" would be read like a code by left-wing nationalists in South Korea, according to Robert Dujarric, a Tokyo-based senior associate with the National Institute of Public Policy in Virginia.
"One of the goals of North Korea is to convince South Korea that they are standing up to the ugly Japanese colonialists and so North Korean nationalism is always covered with a Japanese face," Dr Dujarric said. By undermining support in Seoul, North Korea would lower the risk of severe sanctions from South Korea, which is its biggest source of aid and trade.
Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, ordered a special meeting on the consequences of the economic sanctions on Japanese businesses, including on fish and vegetable importers who buy unusual crab, mushroom and ginseng varieties from North Korean suppliers.
US President George Bush, speaking after Japan announced plans for extra sanctions, said: "In response to North Korea's actions we're working with our partners … to ensure there are serious repercussions for the regime in Pyongyang." China, the nearest North Korea has to an ally, has condemned its communist neighbour and backs limited sanctions, but diplomats said it sees the US approach as too stringent. "One can say that punishment isn't the goal," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said yesterday, saying any sanctions would be to coax North Korea back to talks.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard warned that using military force against North Korea's "seriously crazy regime" could not be ruled out. Mr Howard said the North Korea situation was very bad and a huge problem for the whole world and the options for dealing with it were very limited. "Nobody wants to look at military options," he told Sydney radio. "You can't take them off the table, you never do that, that's foolish, but nobody really wants to look at that as an option."
Not getting sufficient reaction to that announcement..., NK announces that they will be testing Darth Vader's "Death Star" next year!
Heck, they can't even test an atomic bomb without a fizzle. How do they expect to jump up to the next level so soon with technology that needs to be at least three orders of magnitude more complex for a successful test. The North Koreans just sound ridiculous!
"I think Kim flew off to that small moon"
"That's no moon, its a space station"
"It's too big to be a space sta..."
"Turn the ship around"
Small man syndrome.
They tested their Disintegrating Pistol yesterday.
The test was a complete success... they pulled the trigger, and it disintegrated.
email: palladin@sfo.com
"So, after the Hydrogen bomb, will they test their death ray?"
Only if the Israelis sell them one.
Maybe he'll just skip cobalt and go right to anti-matter.
So he threatens another test? He can bomb his own country all he wants for all I care.
If they have a fission-fusion device, it was a gift. There's just no way they pull that off on their own.
Look on the bright side --the more he shoots off his mouth, the more support there will be for NMD, TMD.
I just hope the general public doesn't tune him out completely before the elections.
Rove backed up by....KIM..?! What a team..!
Laugh. The pres ought to take us up a coupleof DefCon levels and watch the rats 'n' roaches scurry for the corners;)
I'm really having a hard time understanding why covert operations couldn't be undertaken to take Kim Jong Il out. The Mission Impossible movies make it seem like this would be an easy thing to do!! :-)
LOL -- that's exactly what he does have... remember, the "Corbomite Device" was a bluff.
ROFL! Great 'toon ;)
Friggin' sharks, with lasers on their heads.
:)
Is that your title, or the publications?
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