Posted on 10/16/2002 6:53:31 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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U.S. Source: N. Korea Says Has Nukes
Wed Oct 16, 7:51 PM ET
By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - North Korea (news - web sites) has told the United States it has a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an agreement signed with the Clinton administration, a senior administration official said Wednesday night.
North Korea also told U.S. diplomats it no longer beholden to the anti-nuclear agreement, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The disclosure, which stunned senior administration officials, is certain to chill U.S.-North Korean relations. President Bush (news - web sites) had labeled the country part of the "axis of evil" — along with Iraq and Iran — but hopes were raised that the reclusive nation wanted to build international ties when Bush sent Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to Pyongyang for security talks.
Kelly visited North Korea on Oct. 3-5 and demanded that the communist state address global concerns about its nuclear and other weapons programs.
In response, the Pyongyang government accused Bush's special envoy of making "threatening remarks." The United States refused all comment on the dicussions,
Under a 1994 agreement with the United States, North Korea promised to give up its nuclear weapons program, and it promised to allow inspections to verify that it did not have the material needed to construct such weapons.
But it has yet to allow the inspections, drawing criticism from the Bush administration.
The source said Kelly also raised with North Korea evidence that North Korea may have a uranimum-enrichment program. The program, which the United States believes would only be used to develop a nuclear bomb, began under the Clinton administration, according to the official.
Surprisingly, North Korea confirmed the allegation.
The administration has not decided how to respond. "We're going to keep talking," the official said.
After months of tension with South Korea (news - web sites), the North resumed high-level talks in August that restarted stalled reconciliation efforts on the Korean peninsula — divided by the most heavily armed border in the world. The Koreas were divided after World War II and remained that way at the end of the inconclusive Korean War from 1950-53. About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against the North. |
What a great president that Bill Clinton was. </approriate tag>
Practice, practice, practice.
My apologies to Henny Youngman
Probably another long-lost brother.
How does a North Korean nuke get to Iraq now that Bush is President?
hmmmm...errrr he doesn't.
Deliver them where? What's in range?
Agreed. They are saying: "We know you are going to change the regime in Iraq. We know you have identified us as a member of the axis of evil. Don't change our regime. We have nukes. We will use them."
The message is pretty clear, no?
1000km - Japan and, of course, South Korea are in range.
The first is that they are trying to stop digging deeper in the hole they are in. There are signs of this in economic policy changes, contacts with South Korea, releasing Japanese abductees. Which may be trying to get off the axis of evil hit parade, and may be a sign that the internal famine etc is so bad they know they have to do something fairly drastic, very soon. This is the optimistic reading of the admission.
The other possibility, less hopeful than the previous, is that the admission simply means they are done. And having a bomb in hand, believe they have the deterrence capability to protect continuation of the program from direct military action. That they want to use it as a diplomatic bargaining chip, but as an accomplished fact. To bargain with it they have to admit it, obviously.
A slight possible twist here is they may want the bargaining or deterring effect, without actually having finished - i.e. that it is a bluff. But I consider that less likely than the other two.
For what it is worth...
About a year and a half ago a Korean missile test dropped its last stage offshore California. Whats in range? What isn't!
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