North Korea With Their Finger On A Nuclear Bomb--What Will The USA Do?

Under a September 19, 2005 agreement, North Korea promised to give up its nuclear program in exchange for a US pledge not to attack or invade it and to work toward normalized relations.

The United States and other parties to the agreement -- China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea -- also offered to put together an energy package for North Korea.

But North Korea announced last April that it was walking out of the six-party talks and resuming operation of its nuclear facilities. (AFP)

Why would North Korea walk out of these peace keeping negotiations? Having stable relations with powerful countries seems to me like a reasonable and responsible choice for government leaders to make for the citizens of the country they represent. In this case we have a power hungry dictator who wants to show an "imperialist country" that they he is stronger!

This goes way back to the Korean War, 59 years ago.

They charged that the U.S. is still seeking to satisfy the ambition for aggression, instead of drawing a lesson from its defeat suffered in the Korean War, and persistently instigating the Lee Myung Bak group of south Korea to stage moves for a war of aggression on the DPRK.

The DPRK, a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, remains unfazed at the desperate efforts of the U.S. imperialists and the Lee group, they said. (KCNA)

It is very clear to me though, that all of the action and threats are coming first, from the leader of North Korea. He appears to have one of those superiority issues within himself that is going to cause the ultimate destruction of his own people and country in the end. Unfortunately he is going to kill a lot of other people in the process, here in the United States and among our allies.

North Korea borders the countries of: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km. Their long range missiles are reported to likely reach Alaska and Hawaii. Chief of State, KIM Jong il has been in power since July 1994 (reelected in 2009). He is the Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (the ruling party since 1948). He succeeded his father Kim Il-sung, founder of North Korea, who died in 1994, and commands the fifth largest standing army in the world. North Korea officially refers to him as the "Dear Leader". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong_Il He is becoming more and more provocative. He has detonated nuclear devises on October 9, 2006. On April 5 2009, they tested a long-range missile and an underground nuclear test on On May 25, 2009. Pyongyang has said it seeks to be a “powerful nation” by 2012. This is the same year as the 100th anniversary of his father Kim Il-sung, founder of North Korea, who died in 1994. What better way to do this than to gain the worlds recognition that they are a nuclear weapons state.

"North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action," the president said in a statement in the White House Rose Garden. "North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons."

"We will work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behavior," the president said and pledged to "never waver" from the commitment to protect the American people.

Noting that Russia, China, South Korea and Japan have all condemned North Korea's actions, the president says the country is "inviting stronger international pressure" and as a result, we will "redouble our efforts toward a more robust international non-proliferation regime that all countries have responsibilities to meet." http://abcnews.go.com/International/Politics/story?id=7668645&page=1

Our Presidents strong words did nothing to stop Kim Jong-il from further showing that he will not be stopped from becoming a powerful force to be reckoned with. His next step was to perform an underground nuclear test.

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea were a "grave concern to all nations" and a legal violation that warranted action by the international community.

"North Korea's attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security," Obama said in a statement after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and reportedly fired a short-range missile. "North Korea's attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security," Obama said in his statement.

'RECKLESSLY CHALLENGING'

Calling the nuclear test a violation of international law, Obama said, "North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community."

Our President let it be known that he was not happy with missile launches and nuclear tests by North Korea. He asked for economic sanctions against North Korea. It seems that all this did was make Kim Jong-il even more determined to show everyone that no one will tell him what to to do. He will be a powerful leader and show that power. The question is, who will he show it to first?

Our soldiers are so dispersed out to other countries all ready, what will we do if Kim Jong il decides to attack us?

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and President Obama are meeting to discuss the nuclear threat that North Korea has become and to show its leader Kim Jong-il that they are prepared to stand together against him. This in the hopes that he will back down.

Lee's office released a statement saying Clinton had called for close cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan in implementing the U.N. sanctions to "get North Korea to realize that its bad behavior will bring due consequences." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090616/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_skorea

Reporter Laura Ling and editor Euna Lee have been sentenced to12 years of hard labor in North Korea. "The accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of (North Korea) by faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it," Korean Central News Agency said. The women were detained March 17. During this time of Nuclear tension between the United States and Korea, I believe this sentence was a show of power by North Korea. To show the United States that they can and will do anything!

The women's families claim Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, were reporting on North Korean refugees in China and had no intention of crossing into North Korea. Many feared they would become political pawns in any negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. The families have pleaded for leniency and urged their release on humanitarian grounds. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090616/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_journalists_held

It does look like these two women will be held under unconscionable conditions for years for trying to expose exactly what is happening to them, human rights violations!

Kim Jong-il is powerful enough to destroy the human spirit, freedoms and life itself. Who will be the target of Nuclear ambitions?

A group of top Obama Administration officials led by Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and top officials from the National Security Council, The Treasury Department, and the Pentagon travelled to Northeast Asia in early June for emergency diplomatic meetings with allies and major powers. The U.S. team traveled to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing with two major issues in mind:  building support for a tougher United Nations Security Council sanctions resolution on North Korea, and beginning discussions with the three countries over what actions would be necessary if North Korea has made a strategic decision to abandon negotiations and establish itself as a permanent nuclear power.

The fear that led to this journey: is the question of North Korea's nuclear intentions.

"We're in potentially a different place now with North Korea," says a senior Administration official. "And we felt we needed to talk with our allies in the region because these last events and continued talk [from Pyongyang] of efforts to develop an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] as well as efforts to proceed with a weaponized, miniature nuclear warhead seem no longer about making noise in order to extract concessions but the embarking on a different path." In addition to pushing for tougher U.N. sanctions now, the U.S. team discussed the "aggressive defensive posture" that Washington and its allies would need to take if Pyongyang has decided to remain a nuclear power. (TIME Magazine)

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.

The independent International Crisis Group think tank, meanwhile, said the North's massive stockpile of chemical weapons is no less serious a threat to the region than its nuclear arsenal.

It said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea."

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 18,

Associated Press writers Shino Yuasa in Tokyo, Jae-soon Chang and Ji-youn Oh in Seoul and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will likely agree with other countries about whether to contact a North Korean ship being monitored by the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there has been no decision yet to hail the Kang Nam, the first North Korean ship to be monitored under a new U.N. security resolution that bars Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials.

"That is a decision I think we will likely take collectively with our allies and partners out there and make a determination about whether we choose to hail and query this particular ship. And if we make that decision, when and where to do so," Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

"That is not a decision that's been made yet and I don't get the sense that it is imminent."

Morrell did not say which countries would be party to any decision. The U.N. sanctions, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, authorized U.N. member states including South Korea, Japan and China to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.

The United States has ratcheted up the pressure on North Korea, tracking its ships in a bid to deter arms shipments banned under the recent U.N. Security Council resolution.

But Flournoy said she told the Chinese officials that Washington will consult with nations in the region.

"The U.S. assured our Chinese counterparts that we're committed to implementing the U.N. resolution fully, responsibly and in concert with other nations in the region," she told a separate news conference after the talks with Ma.

South Korean government sources have said the North could be ready to fire its Taepodong-2 missile, which could reach U.S. territory, in a matter of weeks. It would take far less time to prepare mid-range missiles, which can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan.

http://news.yahoo.com

Pyongyang, June 25 (KCNA) -- A Pyongyang mass rally was held at Kim Il Sung Square Thursday on the occasion of "June 25, the day of the struggle against U.S. imperialism." 

Pak Pyong Jong, first vice-chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, in his speech said, "At the present stage where the army and people of the DPRK are standing in all-out confrontation with the U.S. they will counter "sanctions" with retaliation and all-out war with all-out war in order to protect the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty of the country.", The speaker called upon everybody to wage a staunch struggle to protect the ideology, the system and cause of the DPRK and win a final victory in the confrontation with the U.S., true to the Songun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il.

The floor was also taken by representatives of workers, agricultural workers, youth and students. The speakers condemned the U.S. imperialists, the provoker of the war of aggression, for perpetrating the most barbarous atrocities of genocide and destruction in the world history of wars. They evinced their resolution to turn out as one in the just sacred war in case of emergency and wipe out the aggressors and finally conclude the confrontation with U.S. imperialism with the victory of Songun Korea.

There you have it! That is an open threat that North Korea has every intention of having this tension escalate to a war with the United States.

During the speeches Japan was also threatened by Pak Pyong Jong,, "they will sternly punish the Japanese militarists and the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors for perpetrating rash acts, pursuant to U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK."

Sanctions are not going to work against a country who wants a war to show their country they can beat a country "which boasted of being the "strongest" in the world,..". And  "It is their desire to honorably protect the sovereignty of the nation and the gains of the revolution, fully demonstrating the invincible might of the heroic Korean people, shattering the myth about their "mightiness" and starting U.S. imperialism on the downgrade."

These are serious statements from a country with Nuclear capabilities. Pride makes people do horrific things. I have no doubt that the Kim Jong Il has the desire, guts and stupidity to start a Nuclear war. 

With all the research done about the consequences of nuclear radiation exposure (not to mention the blast itself) I can't believe anyone would even consider it. There are no winners in this war. There are no mighty, no strong. Only losers, who put millions of lives in their prideful path of rage. Only a chain reaction of death and devastation for decades.

Pyongyang, July 1 (KCNA) -- Chairperson Jo Yun Hae and other officials of the Commonwealth of Independent States Regional Headquarters for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration and Korean residents in Uzbekistan held round-table talks on June 25 on the occasion of the June 25-July 27 month of anti-U.S. joint struggle.

The participants in the talks said that the U.S. imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique provoked a war of aggression on June 25, 59 years ago, in a bid to stifle the young DPRK in its cradle and dominate the whole of Korea.

They charged that the U.S. is still seeking to satisfy the ambition for aggression, instead of drawing a lesson from its defeat suffered in the Korean War, and persistently instigating the Lee Myung Bak group of south Korea to stage moves for a war of aggression on the DPRK.

The DPRK, a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, remains unfazed at the desperate efforts of the U.S. imperialists and the Lee group, they said.

They stressed that the compatriots in Uzbekistan express full support for the self-defensive measures taken by the DPRK to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the country and the nation and would vigorously turn out in the struggle for the independent and peaceful reunification of the country.

North Korea is no doubt building its allies and priming them with propaganda in an effort to fight a war with the United States and its allies. I have seen no response from President Obama on this issue of possible war, all you hear about is sanctions because of Nuclear development. This worries me. He is talking about sanctions and Kim Jong Ill is talking about  outright war!

North Korea carefully chose our July 4th, Independence Day to launch 7 Scud-type ballistic missiles in a show of outright contempt for the United States and the UN sanctions.

The missiles with an average range of about 500km (312 miles) were fired from a base on its east coast and fell into an area known as the East Sea in the Sea of Japan.

A spokesman for the US state department called them "not helpful" and said North Korea should " refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on denuclearization talks".(BBC)

Russia and China are compelling all parties involved to act in moderation, avoiding any actions which could further agitate an already volatile situation while British Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the launches and said it was vital that "tension on the Korean peninsular [was] kept at manageable levels". (BBC)

On 12 June the UN Security Council approved a resolution allowing inspection of air, sea and land shipments in and out of North Korea suspected of carrying banned arms and weapons-related material.

The North has said it will treat any interception of its ships as a declaration of war.

We can not idly sit by and let North Korea continue to build their Nuclear and other weapons of war arsenal and do nothing about it.

As they build their allies and weapons against us and our allies it seems that all we do is continue to talk. We say sanctions they laugh in the face of the UN. We say we will inspect... they say,... a declaration of war. The UN and the United States is either powerful enough to quell this beast or we are not. I certainly do not want to find out that we are not, by North Korea firing a Nuclear Weapon at the United States while we did not "talk" them out of it!