USA Warns N Korea May Be Preparing Nuke Test

This could be bad news if it turns out to be true, ol Kim must be getting desperate.



The U.S. has quietly warned China that North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear-weapons test and asked the Chinese to urge Pyongyang to desist, according to a U.S. official.

In what the U.S. official characterized as an "emergency demarche," or diplomatic communication, delivered to Beijing Thursday, Washington said that, in light of recent North Korean words and actions, a test could be in the works.

The WALL STREET JOURNAL reported Friday evening: The demarche also says that the U.S. believes the North Korean nuclear program is advanced enough that a test could come with little or no warning.

Another official said the U.S. test fears also were being conveyed to South Korea and Japan, in addition to Beijing. Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is scheduled to visit all three countries next week.

In addition, the U.S. official said that spy satellites have observed heightened activity at missile sites as well as "at various suspect sites" in North Korea where it is believed underground tests could be carried out. But the official acknowledged that it is difficult to divine the true intent of that activity.

Developing...

Fri Apr 22 2005 16:14:38 ET

So what, if they have nuclear weapons, of course they should test if they work. Isn't that the point of developing something, develop and test?

this link may work better:

www.drudgereport.com...

EDIT:

never mind...




[edit on 22-4-2005 by they see ALL]

Originally posted by Samiralfey
So what, if they have nuclear weapons, of course they should test if they work. Isn't that the point of developing something, develop and test?

NO, not any more nukes do so much damage to the environment even when tested underground they can leak radiation into ground water and above ground or air blasted winds can carry radioactive particles around the globe increasing the chances of people getting cancer. That is the reason that most countries use computer simulations now instead of the real thing, much less damaging.

sorry, either me or the machines goofed, this post was susposed to be a new topic, and isn't related to what is beng discussed.

sorry for the intrusion.




[edit on 23-4-2005 by dawnstar]

The Chinese are sitting with their collective thumbs up the A hole, while Kim tests his bomb. If anyone will suffer from this nuclear test is china as it is on the border with N. Korea, anything goes wrong and Chinese land and people will feel the effect.

And here is an idea if the U.S. know where they are going to test it why not take it our with an air strike before they get the chance?

Originally posted by WestPoint23
And here is an idea if the U.S. know where they are going to test it why not take it our with an air strike before they get the chance?

Because, uhhh, that might kind of like...uhhh....start a war.

This is bad news if you think about it,
If North Korea are thinking about testing nuclear weapons, it means they are ready to strike a city, North Korea will attack. Kim wants his place in history

Once they have tested a nuclear weapon you can be sure of two things.


1. They have more than one device.

2. The weapons work.

Originally posted by Nerdling
Once they have tested a nuclear weapon you can be sure of two things.


1. They have more than one device.

2. The weapons work.

dont forget the third point,

3. Someone is going to get hit by it.

Originally posted by infinite
3. Someone is going to get hit by it.

Y do you expect that?

This whole crises was perpertuated by Republicans who blocked Clinton initiatives to negotiate with Pyongyang during 1994.

NK is just another regime trying to survive.

To portray it as a meglomaniac trying to take over the world is simply stupid, it does not have the capacity to even take SK.

Originally posted by rapier28
To portray it as a meglomaniac trying to take over the world is simply stupid, it does not have the capacity to even take SK.

Didnt i say they wanted to take over the world? *reads over post* no i didnt. Kim would use nuclear weapons either on South Korea or Japan, even America if he can reach them.

crazy dictators who get nuclear weapons will become sane ones really fast.... it's a double edged sword IMO.

That said, you can't 'airstrike' NK like a rogue state like Israel does because then you'll not only have Seoul turned into rubble in a day you would have started a war and more likely than not without chinese support.

thanks,
drfunk

Originally posted by rapier28
[This whole crises was perpertuated by Republicans who blocked Clinton initiatives to negotiate with Pyongyang during 1994.

Do you have proof of that or you're just mouthing off a partisan blame-game?

Originally posted by rapier28
NK is just another regime trying to survive.

Oh, yeah, surviving by starving its own citizens. Neat concept, eh?

Originally posted by rapier28
To portray it as a meglomaniac trying to take over the world is simply stupid, it does not have the capacity to even take SK.

Perhaps you would like to check this extensively discussed thread on North Korea's military capabilities presented with different perspectives from others, including yours truly...me.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 4/24/2005 by the_oleneo]

Originally posted by rapier28

Originally posted by infinite
3. Someone is going to get hit by it.

Y do you expect that?

This whole crises was perpertuated by Republicans who blocked Clinton initiatives to negotiate with Pyongyang during 1994.

NK is just another regime trying to survive.

To portray it as a meglomaniac trying to take over the world is simply stupid, it does not have the capacity to even take SK.

I am usually just a lurker at the ATS boards but I was assigned a project in my college political science class that closely relates to this topic and thought it might interest some of you. Most of the paper is in regards to Clinton's foreign policy. I am neither anti or pro Clinton, but I do believe he failed at foreign policy.

North Korea and the United States – A Sea of Fire:
The Failure of American Diplomacy from 1990-2000 Including the 1994 Agreed Framework


“The United States will lead the charge…to stop and roll back North Korea’s potentially deadly nuclear program, we’ll continue to implement the agreement we have reached with that nation. It’s smart; it’s tough; it’s a deal based on continuing inspection.” This was President of the United States Bill Clinton speaking to the nation in his 1995 State of the Union Address. He is addressing the 1994 Agreed Framework between North Korea and the United States, and the success he believes he achieved. The United States relations with North Korea, a failing despotic regime, has been less than exemplary.

From the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall to present day relations North Korea has been a thorn in the side of the American people. The United States and North Korea, and the diplomacy practiced from 1990 to 2000 have left both countries in a poor position for future relations and the United States has created a poor precedent for other rogue nations to take advantage of the United States.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or simply North Korea, traces it’s history back to the Korean War. After the Korean War the peninsula was split into two nations, North and South Korea. The South was capitalist and aligned with the United States while the North was communist and aligned with the Soviet Union. North Korea in large part never had to worry about its economy, the country was largely bankrolled by the communist machine, unfortunately that machine broke and North Korea lost its main source of support.

In David Reese’s book, The Prospects for North Korea’s Survival, he analyzes the shift in North Korean policy, “North Korea was powerless to prevent its support base from shifting to its enemy…These developments appeared to prompt the North to make a dramatic policy shift. Pyongyang’s [capital of North Korea] principal objective became to establish relations with the U.S.” After being abandoned by Russia the North Koreans needed to find a way to survive. They decided to create a relationship with the United States and gain financial support from America. Unfortunately, the way they went about creating this relationship was risky and dangerous for both sides, nuclear threats.

The United States, during this time period, was enjoying its new position as the final remaining super-power on the planet. Quickly the United States was faced with a new role in leading and assisting the United Nations in battles throughout the world. In 1991 the world looked to the United States to control Sadam Hussein. The United States went to war with Iraq and quickly demolished the fighting force of the Iraqis. To the American public there was little interest in a third world country on the other side of the planet that was trying to stir up trouble. Most Americans were concerned with the upcoming elections and eventually the inauguration of the President from 1992 to 2000 William Jefferson Clinton.

In Thomas H. Henriksen’s book, Clinton’s Foreign Policy In Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, and North Korea, he discusses the foreign policy Clinton faced after winning the presidency. “No twentieth-century president since Harry Truman, or perhaps even since Woodrow Wilson, inherited a more fluid global environment…the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in far-reaching changes.” In an analysis of Clinton’s foreign policy strategy Henriksen pointed to several campaigning decisions by Clinton that left clear proof of where the country was headed, and the indecisiveness of Bill Clinton when faced with difficult decisions:

“Asked later about how he [Clinton] would have voted on the resolution [to wage war to expel Iraq from Kuwait] had he been in Congress, the governor replied in what his detractors charged was an equivocal manner: ‘I guess I would have voted with the majority if it was a close vote. But I agree with the arguments the minority made.’ This effort to avoid taking a clear-cut position became a Clinton trademark.”

To study relations between North Korea and the United States it is important to look at other foreign policy decisions made by the Clinton administration throughout the 90’s. In his first term Clinton was challenged by several international flare-ups. In Somalia the U.N. began a humanitarian aid mission, which became a military mission to remove warlords. Clinton restrained the military and allowed only light armored vehicles to be used. This lead to a graphic battle resulting in American troops dead bodies being dragged down the streets of Mogadishu on CNN. Shortly thereafter America appeared to retreat with its tail between its legs beaten by a group of thugs, these foreign policy decisions scarred Clinton’s foreign policy legacy and effected every decision afterward.

After the collapse of the Soviet world system the North Koreans began an extremely strange path. The country exists as a totalitarian communist military regime. The nation has in effect sealed itself off from the rest of the world and only allows state run news and information to its people. The nation is pumped full of bizarre propaganda and is taught to almost worship their leader, Kim Jong Il who took over after his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994.

Kim Jong Il is a much quieter and reclusive version of his father therefore the state news uses propaganda to advance his popularity, “The state media has sought to elevate his stature with reports of his ‘heroic’ achievements, whether shooting a bull’s-eye on a target range or giving sagacious advice to the nation.” North Korea needed to come up with a way to remain important to the world, keep the South on edge, and to extort millions and millions of dollars to feed and provide energy for their people.

The relationship with South Korea is at the root of the crisis. Since the end of the Korean War the peninsula has been plagued by violence between the two nations. In most of these occasions the North has been the aggressive force and the south has had to be restrained by the United States from going to war once again.

In 1968 a team of North Korean commandos invaded the South in an attempt to assassinate the South Korean president. In 1974 the South Korean President’s wife was assassinated in another attempt by the North to assassinate the president. In 1983 a bombing in South Korea killed twenty-one people including four cabinet members. In 1987 a Korean Airlines plane was shot down by North Korean agents, and in 1996 and 1998 the North invaded Southern waters with submarine incursions. Despite these aggressive acts and even more aggressive language, the American policy remained one of appeasement. One of the more famous quotes to come out of North Korean was the claim that they would turn Seoul [capital of South Korea] into a sea of fire, in reference to their new nuclear capabilities.

North Korea has been interested in nuclear weapons for a long time. The Soviet Union and China both refused requests by the country to supply the technology. “The first signs that the North had an indigenous nuclear programme came in March 1984, when US satellite intelligence identified an apparent nuclear-reactor vessel under construction at Yongbyon.” The North began to clandestinely build nuclear weapons in the early 90’s and as estimated today to have approximately six to sixteen nuclear weapons and continue to process and build more.

It became obvious that the nuclear threats were an attempt to blackmail the civilized world luckily for North Korea one country fell for it. Maybe it was because an election was approaching or maybe it was a genuine attempt to solve a problem but there is no denying in hindsight that the 1994 Agreed Framework was a failed attempt to sweep a problem under the rug and out of the minds of the American public.

North Korea decided that the best way to get international aid was to use its one remaining bargaining chip its nuclear weapons. Beginning in the early 90’s North Korea threatened to and did pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and made it known to the world that they were developing nuclear weapons. Falling to the pressure the United States agree to end the attempts at multilateral talks, including South Korea, and agreed to meet with and create an agreement between just the United States and North Korea. The agreement became known as the, Agreed Framework Between The United States of America and The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Appendix A).

The main points of the agreement were that; North Korea would suspend all nuclear weapons production, shut down the remaining nuclear facilities, safely remove and store the spent nuclear rods, and to allow International Atomic Energy Agencies (IAEA) to resume inspections. In response the United States was to begin normalizing relations, provide 500,000 tons of heavy oil to make up for the shut down nuclear facilities, and lead in the construction of two Light Water Reactors (LWR), high quality power facilities. In essence, the North Koreans threatened violence and nuclear terror and in reward they were to receive tons of financial aid and nuclear goodies.

It quickly became obvious that this agreement was nothing but a sham. So where did the appeasement of the communists leave the United States? The book, Crisis on the Korean Peninsula, analyzes the agreement, “But it [the 1994 Agreed Framework] did not stop the program [North Korea’s nuclear program], as later revealed by discovery of the DPRK’s uranium enrichment effort. It also appears to have contributed to a North Korean habit of extortion-developing destabilizing weapons and then bargaining to give them up for huge amounts of aid.”

The ramifications of this agreement are important to analyze. This agreement set a precedent within Pyongyang and with Kim Jong Il, it proved him right. It proved the U.S. had neither the strength to stand toe-to-toe with him and would give in to his demands as he continued to fool the U.S. Throughout the world enemies of the United States took this lesson and learned from it.

Osama Bin Laden learned and attacked several times, with Clinton in office, and received barely a slap on the wrist. Sadam Hussein learned and kicked out U.N. weapons inspectors in 1998, with Clinton in office. It became apparent that Clinton was a domestic policy President and would do whatever was necessary to appease the enemies outside the United States. Despite all of this Clinton did not see any enemy growing from beyond our borders in his final State of the Union Address Clinton claimed, “Never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats.” Just over six months later the United States Navy vessel, the USS Cole was bombed off the coast of Yemen, again very little response was heard from the United States.

Currently things have reached a standoff with the North Korean regime. After 9/11 Bush took a much different tone with possible enemies of the United States. In his first State of the Union Address after the attack, Bush put three countries on notice, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, labeling them an axis of evil. Bush continues to push for bilateral talks, similar to those before the 1994 Agreement, between, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, and the United States to resume. “Mr. Bush firmly believes Pyongyang is attempting to blackmail him and is unwilling to deal with North Korea on such [unilateral] terms.” An answer for the current situation with North Korea is not easily solved.

From 1990 to 2000 under both the Bush and Clinton administrations the United States had several missteps that led to a potentially dangerous and vulnerable foreign policy. From the fall communism, except in Cuba, China, and North Korea, the world has had to deal with a much more dangerous, unpredictable, and fluid enemy.


[edit on 28-4-2005 by JoshGator54]

What a great article thanks!


Looks like this one was a bit early then

If they do, things get nasty quick.


N.Korea May Carry Out Nuclear Test by June - Kyodo

OKYO (Reuters) - The United States has warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that North Korea has been preparing to carry out an underground nuclear test since March and could go ahead as early as June, Kyodo news agency said on Saturday.

The report, which quoted diplomatic sources in Vienna, came a day after the chief U.S. negotiator to stalled talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions said Washington believed North Korea might be trying to harvest material for a nuclear bomb from a shut-down reactor.

According to the sources, who said the information was obtained by satellite photos and from within North Korea, Pyongyang was preparing to test a small-scale plutonium device.

The United States had called on China to urge North Korea to halt its preparations, but there were no signs that Beijing had done so, the sources said.

Japanese officials were unavailable for comment.

Last week, following a similar report, a senior U.S. administration official said that Washington had seen no evidence that North Korea was preparing for a nuclear weapons test, although it had seen "lots of stuff suggesting interesting activity."

On Friday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Seoul that a North Korean plutonium reactor at Yongbyon had been shut down for close to three weeks and there could be an operation under way to reprocess nuclear material.

The shutdown and the possibility of a nuclear test were of great concern to nations trying to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programs through six-party talks, he added.

In February, North Korea said it possessed nuclear weapons and was withdrawing from the talks, in which the United States, Japan, Russia, China and the two Koreas have taken part.

The last round took place in June 2004, and repeated efforts to restart the talks have failed.

LINK

I dont see whats so bad, I mean why shouldnt they test there nukes, as long as its away from a population center, if you have them, of course you should test them, besidesd if they try and launch, thered be, lets see 1...2..3 alot of other countrys that would counter strike.

Well its seems that a test is getting closer........what will happen when they do test one?



North Korea May Test Nuclear Device
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, May 6, 2005

TOKYO -- Japan has information that North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test, a Defense Agency official said Friday, less than a week after Pyongyang is believed to have tested a short-range missile off its eastern coast.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, refused to specify the information or its source.

An official at the Foreign Ministry said Japan was exchanging information on North Korea with "concerned countries," but did not confirm that there were signs of an imminent test.
The New York Times on Friday reported that the White House and Pentagon officials were examining satellite photographs that suggest North Korea is making rapid preparations for a nuclear test.

The report, which cited unidentified American and foreign officials, also said that the U.S. had extensively briefed Japan and South Korea on the preparations.

Japanese officials refused to confirm they had been briefed on the possible test by the Americans.

Japan, which is in range of Pyongyang's missiles, has been working with the United States, South Korea and China to draw North Korea back to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programs.

Pyongyang is boycotting the talks, and Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters on Friday that Tokyo could push to bring the case to the U.N. Security Council if there is no progress in the negotiations.

© 2005 The Associated Press




Link to Story

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"Nuclear radiation causes no undue suffering - in fact, it is a pleasant way to die! "

Quoted by Major General Leslie Groves to US Congress prior to the dropping of nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.





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[edit on 7-5-2005 by Jubilee]