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D'oh!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...10-11-08-10-02
North Korea threatens war over sanctions
By HANS GREIMEL
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/GREG BAKER
AP VIDEO
North Korea: Sanctions 'Declaration of War'
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea stoked regional tensions Wednesday, threatening more nuclear tests and saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war, as nervous neighbors raced to bolster defenses and punish Pyongyang.
South Korea said it was making sure its troops were prepared for atomic warfare, and Japan imposed new economic sanctions to hit the economic lifeline of the communist nation's 1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest.
North Korea, in its first formal statement since Monday's claimed atomic bomb test, hailed the blast as a success and said attempts by the outside world to penalize North Korea with sanctions would be considered an act of war.
Further pressure will be countered with physical retaliation, the North's Foreign Ministry warned in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the statement, said without specifying what those measures could be.
President Bush called for stiff sanctions on North Korea and asserted that the United States has "no intentions of attacking" the reclusive regime.
He said he remains committed to diplomacy, but also "reserves all options to defend our friends in the region."
As Bush spoke, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Washington to hold one-on-one talks with Pyongyang, something the U.S. has refused to do.
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"I have always argued that we should talk to parties whose behavior we want to change, whose behavior we want to influence, and from that point of view I believe that ... (the) U.S. and North Korea should talk," Annan said.
Annan also called on the communist nation not to escalate an "extremely difficult" situation.
North Korea's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam threatened in an interview with a Japanese news agency that there also would be more nuclear tests if Washington continued what he called its "hostile at ude."
Kim, second to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, told Kyodo News agency that further nuclear testing would hinge on U.S. policy toward his communist government.
"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to U.S. policy toward our country," Kim Yong Nam was quoted as saying when asked whether Pyongyang will conduct more tests.
Along the razor-wired no-man's-land separating the divided Koreas, communist troops were more boldly trying to provoke their southern counterparts: spitting across the demarcation line, making throat-slashing hand gestures, flashing their middle finger and trying to talk to the troops, said U.S. Army Maj. Jose DeVarona of Fayetteville, N.C., adding that the overall situation was calm.
On the streets of North Korea's capital, it seemed like business as usual. Video by AP Television News showed people milling about Kim II Sung square in Pyongyang and rehearsing a performance for the 80th anniversary of the "Down with Imperialism Union."
South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said that Seoul could enlarge its conventional arsenal to deal with a potentially nuclear-armed North Korea.
Scientists and other governments have said Monday's underground test has yet to be confirmed, with some experts saying the blast was significantly smaller than even the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.
North Korea appeared to respond to that Wednesday, saying in its statement that it "successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions."
In rare direct criticism of the communist regime from Seoul, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said the security threat cited by North Korea "either does not exist in reality, or is very exaggerated," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
He spoke even as South Korea's military was checking its readiness for nuclear attack, Yonhap said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended improving defenses, possibly with state-of-the-art weapons to destroy nuclear missiles, the report said.
The top U.S. general in South Korea said American forces are fully capable of deterring an attack despite the North's still-unconfirmed nuclear test.
"Be assured that the alliance has the forces necessary to deter aggression, and should deterrence fail, decisively defeat any North Korean attack against" South Korea, U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell said in a statement to troops. "U.S. forces have been well- trained to confront nuclear, biological and chemical threats."
About 29,500 U.S. soldiers are deployed in the South, a remnant of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire, not a formal peace treaty.
Bell said seismic waves detected after the claimed test were still being analyzed and it had not been yet determined if the test was successful.
Japan took steps to punish North Korea for the test, prohibiting its ships from entering Japanese ports and imposing a total ban on imports from the impoverished nation.
North Korean nationals are also prohibited from entering Japan, with limited exceptions, the Cabinet Office said in a statement released after an emergency security meeting late Wednesday.
"We cannot tolerate North Korea's actions if we are to protect Japanese lives and property," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after an emergency security meeting late Wednesday. "These measures were taken to protect the peace."
A total ban on imports and ships could be disastrous for North Korea, whose produce such as clams and mushroom earns precious foreign currency on the Japanese market. Ferries also serve as a major conduit of communication between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
Two dozen North Korea-registered trade ships are moored at Japanese ports, according to public broadcaster NHK. Local traders already were refusing to unload shipments to protest the alleged test, and the boats were expected to be ordered out, NHK said.
Tokyo already has halted food aid and imposed limited financial sanctions against North Korea after it test-fired seven missiles into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula in July, including one capable of reaching the United States.
The North lashed out at the prospect of further economic sanctions.
"The enemy schemes to destroy us through economic lockout ... but that is merely a foolish illusion," said an editorial published by the state-run Rodong Sinmun, according to Radio Press.
Meanwhile, Japanese TV reports that North Korea may have conducted a second nuclear test stirred new anxieties, but one of the networks later issued a retraction and officials said it was most likely a false alarm.
NHK and Nippon Television, a commercial network, reported that "tremors" had been detected in North Korea, leading the government to begin investigating whether a second blast had taken place. The reports cited unidentified government sources. Nippon Television later apologized.
South Korean and U.S. seismic monitoring stations said they hadn't detected any indications of a second test, findings backed by White House spokesman Blair Jones.
With the United Nations debating how to respond to North Korea, China agreed to punishment but not the severe sanctions backed by the U.S.
Beijing is seen as having the greatest outside leverage on North Korea as a traditional ally and top provider of badly needed economic and energy aid.
The United States asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a partial trade embargo including strict limits on Korea's weapons exports and freezing of related financial assets.
All imports would be inspected too, to filter materials that could be made into nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
D'oh!
I don't understand all the concern about them having nukes. Its not like they are going to drop them on the US anytime soon.
The USA is the only country to drop the bomb on civilians and they go around making a big fuss about others having nuclear weapons for defense. the USA is out of line here.
NK has never created a weapon system that it didn't end up selling. It's one of the few ways they can bring in hard currency. While NK may not launch a nuke, it's much more likely that Al-Queda, if NK was able to sell them one, would stick the damned thing on a boat and try to take out NYC or DC. They (al-q) just issued a video yesterday encouraging use of nukes.
Understand now? Also remember that the time the US dropped the bomb was a way different situation, during WW2 over 60 years ago.
Exactly. After many years of retrospect and deep thinking, the United States knows that there should never be another Hiroshima or Nagasaki and everyone else agrees. To say that we are out of line is just ignorant. That's the same as saying we are out of line for trying to prevent a catastrophic war that would most likely result in roaches ruling the Earth.
(Considering this is what we should have been taking care of first)
I'm just getting ing tired of Kim Jong Il. Damnit, Rumsfeld, get off your ass (respectively, I remember reading that he doesn't sit) and just go beat his ass with your bare hands already.
You are assuming they will sell it. I doubt it. But they have the right to make nuclear bombs if they have the ability to. Who are you to say they don't?
You think they are stupid? They know AlQaeda would not be a smart group to sell it to.
Don't believe all the propaganda the US govt. throws to you. They will make you believe everything they want you to believe because you are weak minded.
Do you all think the US would not resort to nuclear weapons if push came to shove?
Also I don't care if it was 60 years ago. Thats no excuse. The US is the only country to drop the bomb on civilians.
I don't think so. I have absolutely no evidence or logic behind this but I'd like to think not.
The US would be less likely to use nuclear weapons today because of the fear of retaliation.
Sure, it is just the bad old U.S. telling other countries what to do. We are so evil.
Kim Jong Il is a sane, rational man with only the best interests of his nation in mind.
He would never resort to nuclear blackmail.
And Japanese arms escalation in response to a nuclear-armed North Korea is a really good idea! China will be thrilled!
I guess I'm just weak-minded.
Typical liberal moral vanity.
Me too. But as long as the weapons are at our disposal? scares the out of me.
Typical conservative moral vanity.
think outside the box.
Outside the box?Typical conservative moral vanity.
think outside the box.
OK. With ongoing conventional warfare, Japanese civilians were dying at the rate of 100,000 per month. The military and civilian leadership in Japan were at an impasse over the question of surrender.
About 200,000 civilians were killed in the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Would the impasse have been resolved quickly enough to effect a net savings in lives lost, if nukes had not been dropped?
And that's just Japanese civilians, not even accounting for Japanese or Allied military losses.
100,000 Japanese civilians died in the Battle of Okinawa. Shall we condemn the U.S. for that one too? Shall we condemn the U.S. because we didn't sue for peace immediately after Pearl Harbor, or because our leaders didn't have the benefit of 60 years of hindsight information in making decisions on a day-to-day basis?
Moral vanity, that's all it is.
...and if we hadn't???
You keep making that point, but it was a different time, and a different world. You think Japan or Germany would have HESITATED nuking us?
Since then the United States has been in several hot wars, and not nuked anybody - so what's your point, exactly?
DO YOU want the Great Leader to have nuclear weapons? Do your really see an equivalency to his cognac-drunk ass with his finger on a hair trigger to the situation in the U.S.? OBVIOUSLY we have a high threshhold for what would cause us to use atomic/hydrogen weapons again; I don't believe North Korea would have that threshold.
Finally, NK is the closest thing we have to an enemy in the world right now. Moral equivalencies aside; I would rather they not have "the bomb". I like being in a knife fight holding a gun, frankly, as much as that may offend your, "we're all one world, equal in everything - except the United States is self-righteous and very evil" sensibilities.
Go ahead and try to rationalized why we are the only country to drop a nuclear bomb on civilians. The US govt has propagandasized it and you took the bait .
But had another country done the same you would not be so easy to make the same rationalizations.
We only nuked them because we knew there was no threat of a nuke retaliation. It would be less likely to happen today.
I like the American at ude that an American life is more valuable than that of another countries civilians. No country is right to attack civilians.
And I'm sure you like having a gun in a knife fightr because that is just what this is all about and proves my point why the US doesn't want certain countries to have nukes but would be ok with others. Thats not right by the way I see it, from an unbiased viewpoint.
Jesus, dude, I don't know what you have been smoking, but it has obviously rotted out your brain cells. You need to study your history a bit more. If the US was as evil as you seem to think it is we would have nuked the USSR back into the stone age when we were the only one with that capability. And given the number of casualties on both sides in places like Iwo Jima and Okinawa, combined with the intractibility of the Japanese government at the time, it is highly likely that a conventional invasion would have killed more people on both sides, civilian and military, not to mention ruin more of the infrastructure. And please remember that that war was started by the Germans and the Japanese. So you can sit in your ivory tower 60 years later and about what happened, but you weren't there. I wasn't, either, but I'm old enough to have spent my entire life surrounded by those who were. I'm curious, how old are you? 15? You write like it, anyway.
There's enough stupidity going on in the US today without you adding your ill-advised thoughts to the mix. In case you have missed it, I don't support what we are doing in Iraq and much of what else has happened over the last six years. But, unlike you, I've done enough outside reading on the subject - that's right, actual reading, not just parroting what someone else says on TV, but actually reading sources from a number of countries - to know that the looney bin in NK has no business with the bomb. The thought processes that apply most everywhere else in the world don't apply north of the 38th parallel. Why do think they won't let the people there have cell phones, access the internet, talk to strangers; why do you think that visitation to the country is highly regulated, to the point that you can't go anywhere outside your hotel without a handler; etc. etc. etc. Pure and simple it is a cult of personality where the people are mistreated, underfed, and ill-suited to face the demands of the 21st century. The people don't know any better because EVERYTHING they know comes from the Kim Il-Sung Propaganda Company. Remember, he started this lunacy and even though he is dead he is still the "Eternal President" of NK. Yeah, GWB and company slant things their way (witness Fox "News"), but I have the freedom to see what the rest of the world is saying and make up my own mind.
If you think your viewpoint is unbiased, you need to re-acquaint yourself with the term.
They have sold every other weapons system they've ever developed and they were fairly indiscriminate about who were the customers.
You'll forgive me if I don't trust your intuition on North Korean intentions.
Not if you buy the whole international sentiment on the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
A country with vastly superior resources and weapons. South Korea may take a hit before we completely annihilate Kim Jong Mentally-Ill but, some are beginning to think that is a risk we may have to take in order to avoid a much more devastating scenario further down the road.
Yes.
They don't care.
Well, considering China's reaction to this week's events, I'd say the U.S. Government has been more on the money with their assessment of North Korea than just about anyone else.
Last edited by Yonivore; 10-12-2006 at 02:17 PM.
What was the desirable alternative?
But, another country didn't.
We "nuked" them because it was the most effective way of bringing the fanatical Imperialist regime of Japan to it's knees -- or, more precisely, to the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri -- without expending any more U.S. lives.
Tell me, do you have any idea how much in human costs we would have had to incur in an invasion of Japan?
Only when that country has demonstrated a complete disregard of any human life and they leave no feasible alternative to complete destruction.
Japan was a special cir stance requiring a special weapon. After all, we didn't nuke Berlin.
You're right. And, in a perfect world, we would have smart bombs that only killed militarily strategic targets -- even when they are embedded in civilian population centers.
But, guess what, the United States of America is the only country on the face of the planet that is actually actively pursuing such weapons. Maybe someday, no innocent civilian will have to die for the agressive acts of it's government or their proxies.
If you had the chance, wouldn't you bring a gun to a knife fight? Who ever said warmaking was intended to be a exercise in fairness?
And, yes, I believe that until we are able to detect and eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons being used against us, it is in our national security interests to prevent such weapons becoming part of the arsenal of certain countries.
If Afghanistan had had a nuclear weapon when the Taliban took over, is there any doubt al Qaeda would have packed on over instead of their hijacking attack? I have no doubt they would have.
You can thank our president and his actions for other leaders search for the nuclear equasion.
Much like you, Yoni, they don't want to find themselves holding only a knife in an american gunfight.
The sanctions will only encourage NK to sell this technology to "rogue" states and groups.
What technology? By all accounts it didn't work and, indeed, may not have even been a nuclear device.
Yeah, right. I believe we can personally thank William Jefferson Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Madelaine Albright and their "agreed framework" nonsense for the current state of North Koreas nuclear ambitions.
You act like Kim Jong Mentally-Ill didn't start working on the bomb until President Bush declared them part of the Axis of Evil.
I have this visual of that stereotypical scene from a thousand cops and robbers movies where the bad guy is inching toward a gun laying on the floor, just out of reach, and the good guy is drawn down on him. In his stupidity, he tries to grab the gun, aim it, and fire it before Dirty Harry can paint the wall with his brain.
Has it ever succeeded?
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