Free Republic

North Korea said it could stop its nuclear tests in exchange for signing a peace treaty with the U.S. and a stop to annual military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. The North's statement carried by the state media late Friday was a repeat of past offers that have been rejected by the U.S., which wants Pyongyang to commit to a complete abandonment of nuclear weapons. An unnamed spokesman of the North's Foreign Ministry called the purported hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6 a justifiable move to ensure its survival against external threats. ...

TOKYO - Japanese and U.S. officials warned Friday of tougher measures against North Korea if the isolated communist nation conducts a second nuclear test. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a second nuclear test "no doubt would deepen its isolation." Rice and South Korea's foreign minister, Song Min-Soon, agreed at a news conference in Washington that their governments want negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program resumed. "If North Korea is prepared to return in a more constructive spirit" the talks could be reopened fairly soon, Rice said. But she added, "We know of no substantive response from the North...

1994: North Korea and U.S. sign an agreement. North Korea pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for international aid to build two-power producing nuclear reactors. May 25-28, 1999: Former Defense Secretary William Perry visits North Korea and delivers a U.S. disarmment proposal. Sept 13: North Korea pledges to freeze long-range missle tests. Sept. 17: U.S. President Bill Clinton eases economic sanctions against North korea. December: A U.S.- led consortium signs a U.S. $4.6 billion contract for two safer, Western-developed light-watr nuclear reactors in North Korea... Oct. 16 [2002] U.S. officials say they have discovered...

North Korea has recently tested devices used to trigger atomic explosives 70 times, according to the country neighbor South Korea.And the country has confirmed that the North has reprocessed some of its 8,000 spent Nuclear Fuel Rods.Since April, North Korea had claimed that it had all but finished reprocessing the 8,000 rods, but until now both US and South Korean officials have doubted the claim.Expert say that if the rods were reprocessed they could yield enough plutoninum for several atomic bombs 'within months.'The South's Intelligence Agency said that the devices were tested at Yongduk-dong, some 25 miles northwest of Yongbyon,...