Posted on 02/02/2005 8:20:32 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House said Wednesday that North Korea's nuclear initiative is a threat to world peace and urged the secretive regime in Pyongyang to resume talks aimed at ending the program.
"North Korea's nuclear program and nuclear weapons programs and its past and continuing proliferation activities are a threat to global peace and security," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "North Korea's actions underscore the importance of moving forward through the six-party talks."
McClellan, however, would not comment on a published report that said that based on scientific testing, U.S. intelligence agencies and government scientists believe that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya. He said he would not discuss intelligence matters.
McClellan urged North Korea to return to the six-party talks soon. He said two members of the National Security Council staff recently traveled to several Asian capitals to discuss ways to restart the negotiations.
"We put forward a proposal at the last round of talks," he said. "We believe it addresses the concerns of all parties involved in those decisions. We believe that the proposal is the way forward to finding a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue in North Korea."
"The proposal and the six-party process is the best way for North Korea to address the concerns of the international community and to end its international isolation," he said.
According to a report in The New York Times Wednesday editions, the scientific finding supports earlier clues that the dictatorship exported fuel for atomic weapons. Government officials in Washington are trying to determine whether North Korea has sold uranium, an ingredient necessary for atomic weapons, to other countries, including Iran and Syria. So far, there is no evidence of that.
The Times reported that international inspectors tested nearly two tons of uranium material that Libya surrendered to the United States last year when it dismantled its nuclear program. The material, uranium hexafluroide, can be converted into bomb fuel.
An unnamed official at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where extensive testing was performed in recent months, told the Times, "with a certainty of 90 percent of better, this stuff's from North Korea."
Experts said the findings advance the West's understanding of North Korea's uranium program.
"It means the North Koreans have built a facility to process uranium," Leonard S. Specter, the deputy director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute in California, told the Times. "And it raises the disturbing prospect that they've now made enough of it to feel comfortable selling some."
Nuclear intelligence experts said they compared samples of the Libyan uranium with samples from other countries by matching uranium isotopes.
They concluded that the uranium had to have come from North Korea.
The main problem isn't that they sold it, it's that they had the surplus fissionable materiel to sell.
What will they do with Iran's nuke plant? Another strike? A third mid-east war as a results? Wondering.
BUMP....YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!
except for the #1 name - CHINA. China provided all these nuclear programs - NK, Pakistan, all of them. They want nuclear capable surrogates in strategic locations to check US power. And someday, when Brazil pops up with a nuclear program - that will have come from China also.
There are plenty of links to this story.
My concern is that this may have started with the NY Slimes. Remember when we were getting ready to invade Iraq, the Slimes and other liberal MSM tried to get us to focus on N Korea. This could be a re play of that shell game as we get ready to regime change Iran.
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=NORTH%20KOREA%20SOLD%20URANIUM%20TO%20LIBYA
Original headline:
Report: N. Korea may have sold uranium
Great line from The Untouchables.Should be the USA way for the War on Terror.
Interesting, I see how they could track this.
Sadly, that's the way it used to be, and nobody would mess with us!!
I noticed the same thing. Perhaps this is another legacy media/Demorat setup, ala "the President said Iraq had WMDs".
Wasnt there a Report not to long ago that Libya didnt have Uranium or was that another African Nation?
On the day of the State of the Union, well, let's just say I'm leery of a baiting session here.
AP has stepped into it again by changing the White House's words.
That does happen all the time. It certainly was going on with an AP/Yahoo headline on Sunday, in a story about the Iraqi election. There were at least 3 versions of that one.
Why Dont the UK and say...Poland and other allies go after Iran...And the US and a few others can go after N.K.
You need a high speed centrifuge or a gigantic multi billion dollar gas diffusion plant, to make this stuff into something useable in a bomb. It makes me think NK is not that far along as it would be cheaper and easier to export the real thing like 100 pounds of enriched uranium instead of 2 tons of this stuff.
I guess John-Loftus was right!
John Batchelor Ping!
"My concern is that this may have started with the NY Slimes. Remember when we were getting ready to invade Iraq, the Slimes and other liberal MSM tried to get us to focus on N Korea. This could be a re play of that shell game as we get ready to regime change Iran."
Yep, I'd say good chance that the Slimes is trying to 'redirect our attention'.
------surplus fissionable materiel to sell.-------
VERY GOOD POINT!!
For those who think "terrorist" groups don't or can't have a nuke, it's time to rethink your position. What is also interesting is how this material was transported that far without being detected. Afterall, we have been watching N.K. for a long time.
Thank goodness we have a president who recognizes evil and is not afraid to call it evil. Clinton did incredible damage to our security for eight years.
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