North Korea Nuclear Standoff

[Stratosphere747]

There was no 2nd test. The above article to my knowledge was in reference to the initial test.

[MGC]

Many are advocating a naval blockade. Where will we get the ships? The Navy is currently stretched thin covering the war on terror in the Middle East. Personally, I doubt we have the naval assents for a blockade. Currently, 98 ships are deployed out of 282 (source: Sept 25th issue of Navy Times). Our Navy sure isn't what it was during the cold war.....MGC

[cycloneye]

Iran Blames U.S for NK Test

Iran has it's own nuclear issues and it's getting into this.This shows that Iran and North Korea are very good friends.

[cycloneye]

Possible U.N Sanctions

Are the sanctions that are at the information at link above are going to work?

[Derek Ortt]

we must be firm

We cannot back down on this issue. NK, IMO, is the puppet master of all of the BS that has been ongoing lately, including in the Mid East. They are supplying Iran with missles and nuke technology, who in turn is giving it to Hezbollah and God knows who else.

Time to end this puppte show by eliminating the master

[Cookiely]

The people are starving and getting humanatarian foreign aid to feed the people and they are building and detonating nuclear bombs. Cut off aid and maybe just maybe the people will over throw this madman. Its probably wishfull thinking on my part, but what other options do we have.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/ ... CTION=HOME

Revolutions do not happen when people are in dire straights. They happen once people realize they are in dire straights but have bettered their lot. "The Anatomy of Revolution" by Crane Brinton explains it better.

The people of North Korea are controlled by the army. Only internal army politics can change the system, and that presents a whole slew of difficulties.

Thanks Kevin for giving me some insight.

[Brent]

Drudge:

GERTZ: U.S. doubts Korean test was nuclear; Readings fall short of atomic explosion... MORE...

U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast yesterday, WASHINGTON TIMES star reporter Bill Gertz is set to report in Tuesday editions.

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast's readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation.

The underground explosion, which Pyongyang dubbed a historic nuclear test, is thought to have been the equivalent of several hundred tons of TNT, far short of the several thousand tons of TNT, or kilotons, that are signs of a nuclear blast, the official said. Developing...

[Nimbus]

Could also be a copied Russian suitcase design. Size doesn't matter if you are testing concept. If North Korea is as advanced technically as South Korea this scenario makes much more sense, things have changed since WWII.

[cycloneye]

More North Korea Threats

More blah,blah,blah threats from them.It's in question if they have a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

[feederband]

More North Korea Threats

More blah,blah,blah threats from them.It's in question if they have a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

I think we may have to shut him up before this is said and done....Matter of fact I rather not wait to see if he can do this or not...

[dougjp]

Interesting article, hope its not wishful thinking.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15195795/site/newsweek/

Been reading talk of either a joint China US air and sea blockade, or failing that, economic 'blockade' of China by the US until it actually performs in its lead role.

[cycloneye]

Korean test 'went wrong,' U.S. official says
The U.S. believes North Korea tried to detonate a nuclear device and "something went wrong," a government official told CNN Tuesday. The official confirmed North Korea told China before the test that it would be a 4 kiloton device. The official added the unexpectedly small blast, of a half kiloton or less, indicates the test was not very successful.

http://www.cnn.com/

So the so called test went wrong.This is the second time that a test goes wrong.First it was the long range missile that failed after 40 seconds on July 4th and now this.

[Brent]

Japan's Foreign Ministry suspects North Korea has done a second test, but there's been no information to back it up. South Korea says they haven't detected new tremors.

[rockyman]

Appears to have been a false alarm...now Japan is saying it was an earthquake over northern Japan...and this new quake just popped up on usgs:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... 140_35.php

[Cookiely]

More North Korea Threats

More blah,blah,blah threats from them.It's in question if they have a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

I maybe wrong but I thought I read on one of the threads they may have the capability to hit Alaska, but their technology so far has proven to be less than reliable to say the least. Although we all know the real threat to the US would come if they sold a bomb to a terrorist cell, and then they could sit back and deny deny deny any culpability.

[SouthFloridawx]

UNITED NATIONS - A strong earthquake in northern Japan on Wednesday may have led the Tokyo government to suspect North Korea had conducted a second nuclear test, while key powers mulled punitive action against the communist nation for its first atomic blast....

http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?c ... itn_nkorea

[Brent]

A STRICT sanctions regime on North Korea will be tantamount to an act of war, a North Korean official stationed in Beijing told Yonhap news agency today.

"If all out sanctions are implemented, we will take it as a declaration of war," the official said when asked about possible U.N. Security Council sanctions in response to the North's reported nuclear test on Monday.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html

[Cookiely]

A STRICT sanctions regime on North Korea will be tantamount to an act of war, a North Korean official stationed in Beijing told Yonhap news agency today.

"If all out sanctions are implemented, we will take it as a declaration of war," the official said when asked about possible U.N. Security Council sanctions in response to the North's reported nuclear test on Monday.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html

The financial sanctions must be working. Sounds like they are getting desparate.

[Nimbus]

I'm sure the world leaders have a better understanding of the situation than the media has been letting on. Most of koreas top scientists have been working with the west since 2003. This 2003 article is good background reading.

'20 elite N. Korean scientists defect to the west'

SYDNEY -- Up to 20 members of North Korea's military and scientific elite have
defected to the United States and its allies in a secret operation via the tiny
Pacific island of Nauru, it was reported here on Saturday.

The Weekend Australian said the defections began in October after 11 countries
agreed to provide consular protection to smuggle North Koreans from China to
safe havens.


Among the defectors now believed to be in a western safe house is the man
described as the father of North Korea's nuclear programme, Kyong Won Ha, the
paper reported.


Debriefings of Kyong are said to have given US intelligence officials an
unprecedented insight into North Korea's nuclear capabilities, particularly at
its reactor No. 1 in the southern city of Yongbyon, which has been a cause of
some concern in the west.


The report comes as diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear
standoff appear to have bogged down as confusion reigns over an apparent claim
by Pyongyang to have begun reprocessing fuel rods that could be used to make
weapons-grade plutonium.


Talks among US, North Korean and Chinese diplomats and tentatively set for
April 23 to 25 in Beijing, are in doubt and a decision on whether to go ahead
with them would depend on consultations with others in the region, US officials
said on Friday.


'We're consulting with other interested parties, including South Korea, Japan
and China on where we go from here,' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan
said.


The defections, organised in a mission dubbed Operation Weasel, began the day
after the Bali terrorist bombings which claimed more than 200 mostly western
lives.


Operation Weasel began with an approach on Oct 12 by US-based lawyer Philip
Gagner to Nauru's former president, Mr Rene Harris, offering to foot the bill
for establishing Nauruan embassies in Washington and Beijing.


The purpose was to 'provide assistance to certain refugees', according to
documents cited by the paper.


Nauru, one of the smallest nations on earth, is a scrap of South Pacific land
which two years ago agreed to assist with the so-called 'Pacific solution' to
Australia's refugee crisis, by accommodating asylum seekers turned away from
mainland Australia. -- AFP

[Yarrah]

Let's not forget that it's still not officially proven that NK really detonated a nuclear bomb. Some scientists say that the explosion was too small and that they used a very heavy conventional bomb.