North Korea Says It Successfully Conducted Nuclear Test

[The Lawspeaker]

North Korea Says It Successfully Conducted Nuclear Test

South Korean protesters burn a mock North nuclear missile with photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a rally against North Korea's nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 25, 2009. North Korea defiantly declared Monday that it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test - a major provocation less than two months after launching a rocket widely believed to be a test of its long-range missile technology. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, South Korea — The United Nations swiftly condemned North Korea for its test of a powerful nuclear bomb, and South Korean announced Tuesday it would join a U.S.-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The U.N. Security Council said the test was a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning North Korea from conducting nuclear development, and that it would start work immediately on a new resolution that could result in even stronger measures.

Russian officials said the nuclear bomb that the North detonated underground Monday was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, raising fears that the communist country could spread such technology abroad.

In a further sign of the North's mounting standoff with the world, a report said the country was likely preparing to fire short-range missiles Tuesday off its western coast.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a defense source it did not identify, said North Korea banned ships from waters off its western coast and would probably fire short-range missiles as early as Tuesday.
A Defense Ministry spokesman in Seoul said he was aware of the report though could not confirm it. He added that the North has routinely issued such shipping bans at this time of year due to military exercises.

South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon told lawmakers Tuesday that North Korea fired a ground-to-ship missile from its eastern coast Monday and there is a possibility of another missile launch, according to the office of opposition lawmaker Park Young-sun, who attended the closed-door session.

President Barack Obama told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the United States will protect his country from any possible North Korean aggression, Lee's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said after the two leaders spoke by telephone Tuesday.

[Loki]

North Korea and the inevitable

By Peter Lavelle

Is it inevitable that the world will have to accept North Korea as a nuclear power? For now the international community is committed to a denuclearized Korean peninsula. The world may be forced to reconsider this proposition.

We have seen countries consider development of a nuclear weapon (or in possession of such technology), but later change their position (almost always under pressure from the international community and the West in particular). Libya did, after being made into a pariah in the West, though not in the rest of the world. South Africa came clean on its weapons program after the apartheid regime relinquished power. Ukraine actually inherited an arsenal when the Soviet Union collapsed, only to later, and wisely, relinquish them to Russia. South Korea has seriously given thought to building its own nuclear deterrent, but to this day it has accepted American security guarantees instead.

Then there is the other side of the coin – countries that did drive toward nuclear status in spite of international concern or even condemnation. It is widely believed that Israel has a large arsenal of nuclear weapons. However, because of its special status as part of Washington’s strategic thinking, Israel is allowed a special indulgence around and in defiance of international law. Pakistan and India are also in the nuclear arms club. The other members of the club, over the years, have bowed to this political reality.

Many believe Iran aspires to join the nuclear arms club. It claims otherwise and also claims it is in compliance with its international obligations on the issue. According to Tehran it is only interested in peaceful use of nuclear power. This story is ongoing and remains to be played out.

North Korea is in a category of its own. It has contempt for anything it has signed regarding weapons development. In fact, it has shown that it can use words of conciliation while planning to up the ante to get what it wants. This is where we are at. Not only is North Korea a member of the nuclear club, but it also demands to remain in the club and use membership to green-mail the entire world to secure the country’s sovereignty and extort badly needed aid.
I find it very odd that the mainstream continues to regard North Korea as a crazy or irrational state. The opposite is true. North Korea is acting in a way that is very pragmatic given its international standing and domestic conditions. It is simply wishful thinking to assume North Korea will disarm because others countries have done so in the past. Those countries had many reasons to reverse course – North Korea doesn’t.

Hopefully, long and hard negotiations are ahead and not a conflict of any kind, but it should be remembered and reflected upon how North Korea has taken extreme advantage of the poor state of the current international non-proliferation regime. This has happened because the West has been too selective on its implementation. Now we are being made to pay the price for this negligence.

Nothing is inevitable, I suppose, but I won’t be surprised that the world will eventually have to accept a nuclear North Korea and a very much nuclearized northeast Asia. The alternative is to destroy the North Korean regime. Is the world prepared to do this? I think not. The negligence and complacence of the past is catching up with us.

[Atlas]

North Korea best friend - China - is starting to worry about it, that says it all.

[The Lawspeaker]

North Korea best friend - China - is starting to worry about it, that says it all.

And if they would get really worried they might do something about it. Which is actually quite funny since the North Korean army is in the south watching the inner-Korean border and the U.S/South Korean forces.

[Groenewolf]

North Korea best friend - China - is starting to worry about it, that says it all.

But that does not say why they are worried. It could be that Kim Il Jung actions could lead to actions on the penisuala by the UN/USA that are not in the intrest of China.

Or they are worried about that Kim Il Jung will act more indepent from China. Again probaly not in their intrest.

[SwordoftheVistula]

What China is really worried about is a flood of refugees coming over the border from North Korea.

Apparently North Korea has a huge pile of conventional artillery and rockets, and if a serious military move is made against them, they will just let fly and lay waste to the South Korean capital.

Iran is in a similar situation, able to shut down oil exports from the Persian Gulf if any serious military action is taken against it.

Another article dealing with nuclear proliferation:

http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4835