N. Korea Should Not Test Nuclear Weapons, U.N. Says

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aES5CqefPKeQ&refer=japan

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea should refrain from testing nuclear weapons and return to negotiations about its arms program, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

The U.S. has warned China that North Korea could be planning a nuclear weapons test and asked leaders in Beijing to dissuade its neighbor from such action, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing an unidentified U.S. official.

There are efforts ``to resolve the issue diplomatically through the six-party talks,'' Annan said at a press conference at the Asian-African summit in Jakarta. ``Talks will resume in the not-too-distant future. I know attempts are being made to bring everybody back to the table.

China, Japan, the U.S., Russia and the two Koreas have had three rounds of talks in Beijing, with no progress on disarming the North's nuclear-weapons program. The Journal report comes as relations between Japan and its neighbors, China and the two Koreas, have hit low ebb over claims that Japanese textbooks whitewash wartime atrocities. North Korea said it didn't want Japan at the talks.

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Has CNN, MSNBC, or Faux news, mentioned this story at all?

[Deja Q]

1. The irrelevant UN said this?

Condi, they are not irrelevant. Seems like they're agreeing with Bush.

Now we need to ask who is in cahoots with N Korea. They'll defend NK in time of war, which seems more likely thanks to botched "diplomacy" from the past, nevermind the puerile name-calling that went on.

[NMDemDist2]

2. this story falls into the "D'uh

Ya think?" category

and in the "an unfortunate turn of events" category is the story from yesterday that N.Korea claimed that S. Korean troops fired a rocket over the border at one of their installations.

The tensions are ratcheting up over there....... :scared:

[NNN0LHI]

3. Why won't out cable media even report this story though?

Could it be because it makes Boosh look like an idiot for getting us bogged down in Iraq while N Korea is merrily going about its business of building nuclear weapons? After all Boosh did lump N Korea into the axis of evil crowd. Maybe they aren't so evil after all?

Don

[Toots]

4. America talks to China but never North Korea

There is no such thing as six party talks. We tell China or South Korea what we Demand and they are susposed to scurry over to North Korea and relay our Demands. The US can not Lower itself to actually talk to North Korea. We are far to superior for that. It is America's new Diplomacy. Half of the worlds countries are not to be talked to by America. It is like how the Rich treat the help. Never ever talk directly with them. They may get the idea they are (heaven forbid) equal or something.

[54anickel]

5. So which report do we believe NNNOLHI?

The Bloomberg report or the Swissinfo report or something else? Did the US actually warn China that NK is planning to test nukes? Was this some anonymous leak to divert attention from Rummy laying the ground work for an attack on Iran? Or Condi's miserable failure at her job? Maybe this is an effort to attempt to push NK back into the 6-party talks. :shrug:

So many questions, so little time and such a freaking worthless media. Meanwhile, the UN obviously HAD to say something.

I don't really know what to believe anymore.

You posted the article titled U.S. Sees Nothing Definitive on N. Korea Nuke Tests earlier.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1415364

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5712617&cKey=1114203933000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has not seen evidence that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear weapons test, although it has seen "lots of stuff suggesting interesting activity," a senior administration official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to a Wall Street Journal Online story, which said the United States warned China that "North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear-weapons test and asked the Chinese to urge Pyongyang to desist."

"We've seen something that suggests they are talking about (a nuclear test). There has been lots of stuff suggesting interesting activity the official said. "As far as I can tell, it's not definitive."

The official did not know of any warning to China about a possible North Korean test but said the recent activity had "raised some interest within the Bush administration."

snip>

No comment was immediately available from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been unable to monitor North Korea's nuclear efforts since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in December, 2002.

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[NNN0LHI]

6. Who was right about Iraq's WMD program? The US or the UN?

The answer to that question should give you a hint as to who we should trust on this matter.

Don

[54anickel]

7. Good point, but in this instance the UN is responding to a report

by an anonymous source to the Wall St Journal. It is not the UN making the statement that NK is preparing to test nukes.

I do find this one quote interesting in light of the pressure the US has been putting on Japan, and Japan's apparent willlingness to give up their pacifist constitution. Let's face it, we need a puppet in Asia just as much, if not more-so than we need one in the ME.

``The timing couldn't be any worse,'' Hiro Katsumata, a post- doctoral fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said in a phone interview. ``If this test takes place, it will have a significant impact on the public nuclear debate in Japan and could create a nuclear escalation in northeast Asia.''

Is it really necessary for the actual test to take place to impact the public debate, or is just the possibility of a test enough?

I am not attempting to downplay the danger that NK may present. I mean - yes, they have a nut with nukes running the country. But so do we. It just seems like Bushco uses NK as a tool of diversion whenever they are up to something else. If it were such a threat in the "Axis of Evil" why did we give Iraq precedence?

[NNN0LHI]

8. The UN member states know whats going on in N Korea

They have access to the same types of satellite imagery as the US does.

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_07-08/IraqiWeaponsSites.asp

>>>Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, sites associated with Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs have been destroyed, and Iraqi missile engines have turned up in Europe, according to a May 28 report from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). The report states that “recent satellite imagery” shows that a number of sites in Iraq containing equipment and materials that could be used to produce illicit weapons “have been either cleaned out or destroyed.”<<<

My guess is they know exactly what is going in N Korea. The UN's access to satellite imagery is what I think prevented the US from planting WMDs in Iraq.

And I am not concerned with N Korea being a threat to us any more than I was worried about Iraq being a threat to us. Even if they do have nukes they would never use them except for defensive purposes. Mutual assured destruction has a way of keeping countries from using them for offense. Plus, for what good reason would N Korea have to use them for offense? There is no good reason to use them for offense. I can think of only one good reason they would want them at all. The only use N Korea would want to own them for would be that they are much cheaper than keeping a huge military force at the ready to protect against an Iraq type invasion by the US.

As for your last question "If it were such a threat in the "Axis of Evil" why did we give Iraq precedence?", I have two answers. Number one is Iraq was defenseless. And number two is Iraq's huge oil reserves. And as for the test, yes I do think they are preparing to actually test one.

Don

[daleo]

9. This seems like an implicit admission that last year's mushroom cloud

was a test. It has kind of fell down the memory hole.