A satellite image of the Yongbyon nuclear facility that may produce weapons-grade uranium
Meaning a challenge to the Chinese to step up.
We will never serioulsy contemplate a pre-emptive strike on North Korea; different culture, different logistics, and a completely and thoroughly brainwashed population. We will just hope they go away.
Look out! If it comes down to military action, it would be sudden and amazing. N Kor is on the edge of disaster, and it is up to them to realize this. They got creamed last time they tried military action until volunteers came flooding in from China to rescue their 'cousins.'
No one is actually stunned, but former Clinton admin staff is in denial, an early coping stage.
The author really missed the point on this story. We weren't stunned - we've had satellite intelligence on this for years. The Chinese weren't stunned at the nuclear program, they've been paying for it. But they were stunned that the North Koreans told anyone, especially without talking it over first with their paymasters. That is extremely significant.
It tells me that Kim is attempting to assert a little independence here and that he may already have a bomb or some bombs, perhaps even more than the Chinese know. If so the Chinese will find out and they will not be pleased. North Korea is putting the move on South Korea and Japan here, and playing the U.S. and China off against one another. The Chinese want Taiwan and we want a nuclear-free North Korea. The North Koreans are betting that a compromise will result in neither China nor the U.S. getting their way. Interesting ploy - it can continue for quite some time in that little state of stasis, as long as the Chinese figure they have more to gain vis a vis Taiwan than they do to lose by stomping on the North Koreans to bring them back into the fold.
Now, if we and the Chinese ever get together on this the game is over very quickly, but I suspect the Chinese value the North Koreans more as a thorn in the U.S. side than they feel threatened by its possessing nuclear weapons. But they are neighbors with these lunatics and we are not. They may well find that they'll lose enough control to go over from socialist solidarity to a MAD standoff with their former clients. From there it gets interesting.
At the White House, reporters were told the Chinese were stunned upon learning of North Korea's acknowledgment to U.S. officials that it was pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
When Billyjeff Clinton made his phony "peace" deal with North Korea I thought it was a made-to-order failure, like Nevil Chamberlain's "peace" deal with Adolf Hitler in 1938. Maybe the writer of this article was stunned. If so, he is a geopolitical moron.
Congressman Billybob
COMMISSION TO ASSESS THE BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES
--- Snip ---
a. North KoreaCommission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United StatesThere is evidence that North Korea is working hard on the Taepo Dong 2 (TD-2) ballistic missile. The status of the system's development cannot be determined precisely. Nevertheless, the ballistic missile test infrastructure in North Korea is well developed. Once the system is assessed to be ready, a test flight could be conducted within six months of a decision to do so. If North Korea judged the test to be a success, the TD-2 could be deployed rapidly. It is unlikely the U.S. would know of such a decision much before the missile was launched. This missile could reach major cities and military bases in Alaska and the smaller, westernmost islands in the Hawaiian chain. Light-weight variations of the TD-2 could fly as far as 10,000 km, placing at risk western U.S. territory in an arc extending northwest from Phoenix, Arizona, to Madison, Wisconsin. These variants of the TD-2 would require additional time to develop and would likely require an additional flight test.
North Korea has developed and deployed the No Dong, a medium-range ballistic missile 3 (MRBM) using a scaled-up Scud engine, which is capable of flying 1,300 km. With this missile, North Korea can threaten Japan, South Korea and U.S. bases in the vicinity of North Korea. North Korea has reportedly tested the No Dong only once, in 1993. The Commission judges that the No Dong was operationally deployed long before the U.S. Government recognized that fact. There is ample evidence that North Korea has created a sizable missile production infrastructure, and therefore it is highly likely that considerable numbers of No Dongs have been produced.
In light of the considerable difficulties the Intelligence Community encountered in assessing the pace and scope of the No Dong missile program, the U.S. may have very little warning prior to the deployment of the Taepo Dong 2.
North Korea maintains an active WMD program, including a nuclear weapon program. It is known that North Korea diverted material in the late 1980s for at least one or possibly two weapons. North Korea's ongoing nuclear program activity raises the possibility that it could produce additional nuclear weapons. North Korea also possesses biological weapons production and dispensing technology, including the capability to deploy chemical or biological warheads on missiles.
North Korea also poses a major threat to American interests, and potentially to the United States itself, because it is a major proliferator of the ballistic missile capabilities it possesses--missiles, technology, technicians, transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) and underground facility expertise--to other countries of missile proliferation concern. These countries include Iran, Pakistan and others.
Talk about enablers. Always they appeared extraordinarily unsatisfied with America's status as a superpower sovereign nation inhabited by a free people governed by our Constitution, with the world's greatest industrial capitalistic opportunity and economy.
Perhaps they thought to remedy this imbalance by working to level the playing field.
Gedda life.
A more accurate headline: U.S. stunned by No. Korea's Acknowledgement of Nuke Program.