North Korea Reportedly Plans more Nukes

AP | June 2, 2003

[jerseygirl]

June 2, 2003 WORLD NEWS North Korea Reportedly Plans More Nukes Seoul, South Korea — North Korea acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and plans to build more while repeating its demand for direct talks with the United States, a U.S. congressman said Monday after a visit to the communist nation.

"They admitted to having nuclear capability and weapons at this moment," said Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "They admitted to an effort to expand their nuclear production program."

In Washington, a State Department official expressed doubt about North Korea's claim that the reprocessing of spent fuel rods was nearly finished. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence suggests that the North Koreans have a long way to go before reprocessing is completed.

North Korea acknowleded to U.S. officials last October that it had a uranium-based nuclear weapons program. In April, during talks in Beijing, the North acknowledged possession of nuclear weapons for the first time. The United States has believed that North Korea has had one and perhaps two nuclear weapons for years.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Monday the North's claims couldn't be verified but shouldn't be ignored.

"Certainly what we know suggests that we should take what they are saying very seriously," he said at the end of a two-day trip to Seoul.

Wolfowitz has warned that the North was likely to sell nuclear weapons or parts to other nations or groups.

North Korea said it was developing its nuclear weapons as "a response to what they saw happened in Iraq, with the U.S. removing Saddam Hussein from power," Weldon said in Seoul, a day after briefing South Korean officials about the trip.

The congressional delegation plans to report their findings to Secretary of State Colin Powell and other Bush administration officials as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Both sides sought to emphasize the friendly nature of the visit. Weldon said the delegation - the first American officials to visit since the nuclear crisis began - had "candid" talks in the North, and accomplished its goal of interacting "as friends and human beings" with North Koreans.

Weldon also said his delegation, which did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was convinced the dispute can be peacefully resolved.

The North's state-run news agency, KCNA, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the visit helped both sides better understand each other and expressing a desire to "avert a confrontation."

Weldon said the North asked for a meeting with Washington because it "felt there were some things it could only discuss with the United States." Pyongyang has said it would give up the weapons program in return for economic aid and U.S. security guarantees.

On Sunday, at a summit in France of major industrial nations, President Bush said the United States continues to support only talks that also involve other regional powers.

Bush also dismissed a proposal, conveyed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, from North Korea, agreeing to talks involving other if it could also meet separately with just the United States.

North Korea has repeatedly accused Washington of planning to invade. Bush says he prefers a diplomatic solution, but has not ruled out a military option.

U.S. and South Korean officials say that North Korea may be bluffing about its nuclear program to extract concessions from the United States.

In Seoul, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said his government has no "clear proof" that North Korea has nuclear weapons.

"North Korea has told important people of the United States that it has developed nukes and reprocessed spent fuel rods. But North Korea has not confirmed that to anyone else," Roh said on Monday. "Thus, we must make a very careful judgment on whether we will conclude it has nuclear weapons or not, based on those words only."

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

[jerseygirl]

"Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who headed a delegation of American lawmakers on the three-day visit, said North Korean officials acknowledged they had nearly finished reprocessing spent fuel rods - a move that could yield more nuclear weapons within months."

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The NKs do nothing without Red China's prior approval. To believe anything else is foolish.

[Spruce]

They are bluffing. NK has never successfully tested an atomic weapon, therefore they are NOT a nuclear power.

[jerseygirl]

I hope you are right! (Wasn't there an allegation that some other country tested their design for them?)

[Conspiracy Guy]

Lets send em some of ours. The old fashioned way. Send a B-52 overcast.

[OahuBreeze]

Be careful with that bluffing stuff -- the South Koreans are all about making this out to be no big deal so they can spend their think tank time concentrated on getting their economy out of a slump (which is connected to the same issue) -- they keep saying, how can we be sure, even if the NK's supposedly mentioned it to the Americans privately a few times. Well, how can you be sure, if I guy walks into your dimly-lit house in the middle of the night and grabs your kid and puts a gun to his head and says don't move... whether the gun's loaded or whether it's even made out of rubber -- point is, I don't debate it -- I would treat the guy very cautiously, and then at the first chance I would disable him or kill him swiftly, whichever offered the greatest chance of immediate success. I would not sit there and argue with him about whether the gun was loaded or rubber. He has made a decision. He is offering a threat. I will treat it as such, and deal with it accordingly.

[backhoe]

Cross-link:

-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--

[NormsRevenge]

Mon Jun 9,11:42 AM ET

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspects a farm at an unidentified location in North Korea (news - web sites) on June 4, 2003. The communist North said on June 9 that it wanted nuclear weapons so it could cut its huge conventional forces and divert funds into an economy foreign analysts say is close to collapse. North Korea's most explicit public acknowledgement to date that it was seeking to build nuclear weapons also marked the first time Pyongyang had linked its atomic program to cutting its conventional military and saving money. Photo by Kns/Reuters