View Full Version : North Korea Relations
aricbcool
09-19-2005, 22:19
Starting this thread for articles and discussion related to North Korea...
To start:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169843,00.html
N. Korea Demands Reactor Before Nuke Talks Continue
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first provides an atomic energy reactor, casting doubt on its commitment to a breakthrough agreement reached at international arms talks.
The North insisted during arms talks that began last week in Beijing that it be given a light-water reactor, a type less easily diverted for weapons use, in exchange for abandoning nuclear weapons. The agreement reached at the talks' end Monday — the first since the negotiations began in August 2003 — says the six countries in the negotiations will discuss the reactor issue "at an appropriate time."
Both the United States and Japan, members of the six-nation disarmament talks, rejected the North's latest demand.
"This is not the agreement that they signed and we'll give them some time to reflect," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura called the reactor demand "unacceptable."
The Beijing agreement called for the North to abandon it arms efforts and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for energy, economic and security aid.
But the North's statement Tuesday indicated it was again raising the reactor demand as a prerequisite for disarming.
"We will return to the NPT and sign the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the U.S. provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building to us," the North's Foreign Ministry said in the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
"The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea's) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing LWRs," the North said.
The impact of the North's statement wasn't immediately clear. During the years of debate over its weapons program, the communist nation has sometimes given confusing or dramatic statements as it publicly maneuvers for negotiating leverage.
Other countries at the talks made clear that the reactor could only be discussed after the North rejoins the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency — which North Korea pledged to do in Monday's agreement.
U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli emphasized earlier in Washington that the "appropriate time" for discussing the reactor means only after the North comes in compliance with those conditions.
"It's a theoretical proposition in the future, contingent on dismantling having taken place, resigning up to the NPT and having IAEA safeguards in place," he said Monday in Washington.
The North's position is likely to be a major sticking point in talks slated to begin in early November on implementing Monday's agreement.
The North had demanded during the six-nation talks in Beijing — which include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas — that it be allowed to keep a civilian nuclear program for power generation after it disarms.
But the United States strongly opposed the demand, and Monday's agreement only acknowledged that the North had "stated" its claim to that right.
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has opposed anything resembling a 1994 U.S.-North Korea agreement, which promised the North two light-water reactors for power. That project stalled amid the current crisis that broke out in late 2002 over the North's resumed nuclear weapons program.
aricbcool
12-20-2005, 10:35
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2005-12-20T035533Z_01_ARM009001_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH.xml&rpc=22
N.Korea says to build light-water nuclear reactors
By Jon Herskovitz (Additional reporting by Lee Jin-joo)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it plans to build light-water atomic reactors and develop two other reactors that can produce large amounts of fissile material to boost its nuclear deterrent.
The official KCNA (official, as in the official news agency of the DPRK --Aric) news agency blamed the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush for the decision, made during a hold up in six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.
It could complicate an already difficult diplomatic process further, analysts said.
Pyongyang had not said before it planned to build relatively proliferation resistant light-water reactors (LWRs) but had threatened to resume work on two graphite-moderated reactors (GMRs), which can produce large amounts of material for atomic bombs, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said.
"There have never been any plans for North Korea to build LWRs on their own," the official said.
KCNA repeated the North's demand for compensation for an international consortium's decision to pull the plug on a long-stalled deal to provide it with two light-water reactors in exchange for it freezing its nuclear weapons programs.
The countries in the consortium -- known as the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or KEDO -- said the project was shut down because the North had cheated on the original 1994 deal by having a secret uranium enrichment plan.
Pyongyang denied having such a project.
"The Bush administration's abandonment of its commitment to provide LWRs to the DPRK compels it to develop in real earnest its independent nuclear power industry based on 50,000 kilowatt and 200,000 KW GMRs and their related facilities," KCNA said.
DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
KCNA said North Korea would "start developing and building LWRs of Korean style in reliance upon its indigenous technology and potential when an appropriate time comes to put further spurs to its peaceful nuclear activities". It did not elaborate.
NO MONEY, STALLED TALKS
Nuclear experts say North Korea, which operates one, small nuclear reactor built with technology from the 1960s and 1970s, does not have the technology or money to build light-water reactors any time soon.
"As long as the Bush group persistently pursues the policy to stifle the DPRK, bent on arrogant, self-justified and high-handed practices while regarding 'force' as all-powerful, the DPRK will steadily bolster its nuclear deterrent as a powerful treasured sword for defending the sovereignty of the country," KCNA said.
Daniel Pinkston, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the California-based Center for Nonproliferation studies, said it would take years for North Korea just to complete the graphite-moderated reactors.
Any construction of nuclear reactors presented problems for the diplomatic process, he said.
"The further this goes forward, the more difficult it is to walk away from it and the more costly it becomes to dismantle them," Pinkston said by telephone.
The next round of nuclear talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States has been put in doubt, partly because of North Korea's anger at a UN vote to condemn it for human rights abuses and a U.S. crackdown on its finances.
Washington, which accuses North Korea of funding its nuclear programs partly through money obtained from counterfeiting, money laundering and the drug trade, has frozen a few of its assets and is trying to put the brakes on some firms.
The next round of the talks is likely to be held in January, sources familiar with the discussions say.
North Korea almost scuttled an outline statement agreed in September among the parties by demanding the United States build it a light-water reactor before it even started to consider scrapping its nuclear weapons programs.
Rschoeneck
03-21-2006, 08:32
And in recent developments....
"SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea suggested Tuesday it had the ability to launch a pre-emptive attack on the United States, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.
As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U.S. pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States."
Last week, the communist country warned that it had the right to launch a pre-emptive strike, saying it would strengthen its war footing before joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises scheduled for this weekend.
The spokesman also said it would be a "wise" step for the United States to cooperate on nuclear issues with North Korea in the same way it does with India.
Earlier this month, President Bush signed an accord in India that would open some of its atomic reactors to international inspections in exchange for U.S. nuclear know-how and atomic fuel.
The accord was reached even though New Delhi has not signed the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. North Korea has withdrawn from the treaty."
Things are not looking good on the Korean front. I would have to say that at this time they can definitely make such threats as I do not see how our military, at least our ground forces, are in a position to counter such a threat.
Man oh man, this is going to get way too tense way too fast.
The Reaper
03-21-2006, 09:34
Complete and utter BS.
A preemptive first strike is not posssible physically, given the numbers, range, and accuracy of their platforms.
A successful preemptive first strike is normally targeted against the opponents' strategic launch capability and assumes that you can take out a sufficient number his systems to prevent an effective counter-strike.
They could launch a nuclear strike on a dozen or so targets in South Korea, and be burned down to the bedrock for it. Last time I looked, I thought that we still had 10,000 or so warheads in inventory, scattered across land, sea and air based platforms. No way they can take any significant number of those out. The odds are better in a conventional war. If they did manage to strike a US target and burn an American city, I believe that the POTUS would launch an immediate and overwhelming nuclear strike package against NK military and C2 targets, with the approval of 99% of the American people.
Finally, we have the beginnings of an effective missile defense system for CONUS. It is believed that we will soon have an adequate program to intercept and destroy as many strategic weapons as the NKs are likely to have for the forseeable future.
HTH.
TR
They may have nukes but not our caliber of nukes. Them going toe-to-toe with us is BS and even they know it.
Four major things are needed to make this kind of nuke effective: range, yield, accuracy, and reliability. First, I think they are being pretty optimistic about their range capabilities. Secondly, I doubt they have the knowledge to produce high yields while maintaining a low weight. An RV/RB isn’t like a bomb, you can’t make this thing weight a ton and still have any reasonable range. It’s physics. Finally, they haven’t done nearly enough testing to really learn what they need to in order to produce highly accurate and reliable weapons systems. Sure, you can add in redundancy but your back to the weight and range issue. You can overcome three of these with quantity but they probably don’t have what they need and we shouldn’t let them make any more for that reason.
Perhaps we should restart our underground testing again to show them and the world we really mean business on this issue. They don’t seem to take our JTA tests seriously because it doesn’t produce a mushroom cloud at the end. We also don’t really advertise those tests.
Say NK tries to attack us and our missile defense system was up and running and stopped the attack, I think we would still have to respond in kind or else it would open the door for others to do the same in the future. The hell with collateral damage at that point, you’re setting a precedent. I wonder if Washington at the time would think on the same lines.
NK is a good reason we should have never canceled the RNEP program. It just opened the door for this kind of behavior. But that’s a whole different topic.
Just my thoughts…
Here is a new one for today.
North Korea suggested Tuesday it had the ability to launch a pre- emptive attack on the United States, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.
"As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U.S. pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States."
Read more here: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/21/D8GG0D7O0.html
VG
Here is a new one for today.
North Korea suggested Tuesday it had the ability to launch a pre- emptive attack on the United States, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.
"As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U.S. pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States."
Read more here: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/21/D8GG0D7O0.html
VG
Go For Broke
09-20-2006, 09:31
Australia and Japan put penalties on North Korea (http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/19/business/nkorea.php)
By Choe Sang-Hun International Herald Tribune
Published: September 19, 2006
SEOUL Australia and Japan imposed new financial sanctions on North Korea on Tuesday, as the United States dismissed appeals from China and South Korea for a softer approach and rallied more international pressure on the Communist North to return to nuclear disarmament talks or face a slow wilting of its finances.
The initial impact of the actions announced Tuesday will be limited because Australia and Japan have little trade with North Korea, experts said. But the sanctions were another clear sign that Washington and its allies are intent on tightening a financial noose around the North Korean regime, whose conduits of hard currency from abroad the Bush administration is determined to squeeze.
That strategy, as well as Washington's human rights offensive, has proved effective in hurting the North Korean regime, analysts say. But officials and experts in Beijing and Seoul fear that mounting pressure might drive Pyongyang's unpredictable regime to lash out with a nuclear test - and potentially trigger a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia.
Read more at the above link.
V/R,
aricbcool
10-19-2006, 23:26
Sorry? Yeah, sorry the test failed. :rolleyes:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/19/D8KS3JD00.html
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country's nuclear test to a Chinese delegation and said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if Washington backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.
"If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks," Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass- circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.
Kim told the Chinese delegation that "he is sorry about the nuclear test," the newspaper reported.
The delegation led by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met Kim on Thursday and returned to Beijing later that day _ ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's arrival in the Chinese capital Friday. China is viewed as a key nation in efforts to persuade the North to disarm, as it is the isolated communist nation's main trading partner.
North Korea has long insisted that the U.S. desist from a campaign to sever its ties to the international financial system. Washington accuses Pyongyang of complicity in counterfeiting and money laundering to sell weapons of mass destruction.
The North has refused since last November to return to the nuclear talks, which also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Pyongyang has sought bolster its negotiating position by a series of provocative actions, test-firing a barrage of missiles in July and performing its first-ever nuclear test Oct. 9.
The Reaper
10-20-2006, 07:52
F him, and the horse he road in on.
Let him go through this winter short on food and fuel for the Army, and see how willing he is to negotiate in the spring. Maybe his generals will take matters into their own hands.
I see no need for us to concede after his provocative act and brash statements. Why reward bad behavior? Again.
Sad thing is if the Dems win, he will likely get his unilateral talks and concessions.
TR
I was watching a talking head on TV last night. He claimed "the US had given over a billion dollars worth of food aid in the last 10 years". While it would not surprise me if its true, given the giving nature of the American people (hell Slick Willie gave them a nuclear reactor, so they would "just play nice").
Anyway I think its FRICKING CRAZY to give food aid to NK. They are the enemy, the people may not be, but "Glorious Leader" darn sure is. It makes no sense to me....be kinda like FDR suppling warm clothing to freezing German workers because they sent all there stuff the Werhmarct on the Russian front. If the NK army is starving, perhaps the generals will decide they have had enough of Kim and his poor fashion sense. Or at the very least let the Chinese feed them, after all they are the NK's ally.
We have taken this humanaterian aid way too far IMHO.
back to lurking.
incommin
10-20-2006, 08:54
I think an 0 dark 30 message delivered by a B2 or two (paper letters of HE) would get their attention and cause them to crap or get off the pot. F111's delivered a message to a desert kingdom a few years back and "Mr K" got the message.
Jim