N.Korea Tells U.S. Lawmaker It Has Atom Bombs -Report

[Up2Late]

N.Korea Tells U.S. Lawmaker It Has Atom Bombs -Report
Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:39 AM ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - A top North Korean official has told U.S. legislators that the communist state possessed nuclear weapons, Radio Free Asia reported on Friday.

North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said the country was a nuclear weapons state but its nuclear arsenal was defensive in nature and Pyongyang did not intend to possess it forever, Radio Free Asia quoted U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon as saying.

Weldon, Republican of Pennsylvania, led a six-member congressional delegation to North Korea last week and met with its senior officials. North Korea aimed to denuclearize itself and it was willing to move toward that end in a transparent manner, Weldon quoted the North's Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun as saying.

"The president of the country said that he foresaw the day when America and North Korea would be friends," Weldon was quoted as telling a forum in Washington last week about his meeting with the North's number-two official and president of its assembly, Kim Yong-nam.

more at <http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7399892&src=rss/worldNews>

[Goldeneye]

1. Hmmm....this should be interesting.

I guess we knew they had them. But now the cats really out of the bag. N. Korea has nukes and we've got Condi as our chief diplomat and Bush as our fearless leader.

[UL_Approved]

2. Reporting before the "hiding weapons of mass destruction" line gets out

This is an interesting development with North Korea. This is politics to the core, and will make the world an interesting place. This is a power play to stop the U.S. from invading. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks.

This is preemptive war by N. Korea. They are taking Bush out at the news stands before he can beat the drums.

[Up2Late]

6. How much ya wanna bet, 3 days from now...

(it always takes * at least 3 days to respond to "important" stuff), as soon as they finish writing, focus group testing, and getting approval from all his "faith based" :crazy:advisers, he'll say some thing like,

"No they don't. I believe they are just saying that, so that won't attack them." :evilfrown:

[Igel]

3. They'll say it was all just a horrible misunderstanding,

and that they don't actually have any.

That's what they did last time.

[Redstone]

4. Some surprise

It's been pretty clear for a while that they have nukes.

And they're crazy enough to use them, have no doubt of that. After all, what could we do to stop them, with all our people and equipment getting ground up steadily in Iraq?

Redstone

[Rose Siding]

5. Is Weldon trustworthy?

Who else was in this delegation? So far, we've had the Bush admin's word that NK was nuclear and according to them, Iraq was a worse threat.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050101faessay84109/selig-s-harrison/did-north-korea-cheat.html

Summary: Two years ago, Washington accused Pyongyang of running a secret nuclear weapons program. But how much evidence was there to back up the charge? A review of the facts shows that the Bush administration misrepresented and distorted the data--while ignoring the one real threat North Korea actually poses.

Selig S. Harrison is Director of the Asia Program and Chairman of the Task Force on U.S. Korea Policy at the Center for International Policy. He is also a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the author of Korean Endgame.

MORE....

[Up2Late]

7. Oh, they got 'em

This is just the first time they admitted it. They've been working on this for about 3 years now.

Back when * was pushing for war with Iraq, they were practically ready to start their own "reality show" to get * attention, to try to get them to negotiate with them. :evilfrown:

Listen to this NPR RealAudio from

N. Korea Accused of 'Nuclear Brinkmanship'

All Things Considered, December 26, 2002
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=891758>

There's a lot more too, just search "N. Korea" at NPR's Website.

[Rose Siding]

8. "The plant could make weapons-grade plutonium."

"could". I don't see anything conclusive about a nuke at that link.

from mine...

Much has been written about the North Korean nuclear danger, but one crucial issue has been ignored: just how much credible evidence is there to back up Washington's uranium accusation? Although it is now widely recognized that the Bush administration misrepresented and distorted the intelligence data it used to justify the invasion of Iraq, most observers have accepted at face value the assessments the administration has used to reverse the previously established U.S. policy toward North Korea.

But what if those assessments were exaggerated and blurred the important distinction between weapons-grade uranium enrichment (which would clearly violate the 1994 Agreed Framework) and lower levels of enrichment (which were technically forbidden by the 1994 accord but are permitted by the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not produce uranium suitable for nuclear weapons)?

A review of the available evidence suggests that this is just what happened. Relying on sketchy data, the Bush administration presented a worst-case scenario as an incontrovertible truth and distorted its intelligence on North Korea (much as it did on Iraq), seriously exaggerating the danger that Pyongyang is secretly making uranium-based nuclear weapons. This failure to distinguish between civilian and military uranium-enrichment capabilities has greatly complicated what would, in any case, have been difficult negotiations to end all existing North Korean nuclear weapons programs and to prevent any future efforts through rigorous inspection. On June 24, 2004, the United States proposed a new, detailed denuclearization agreement with North Korea at six-party negotiations (including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and North Korea) in Beijing. Before discussions could even start, however, the Bush administration insisted that North Korea first admit to the existence of the alleged uranium-enrichment facilities and specify where they are located. Pyongyang has so far refused to confirm or deny whether it has such facilities; predictably, the U.S. precondition has precluded any new talks.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050101faessay84109/selig-s-harrison/did-north-korea-cheat.html

[Up2Late]

11. So you're just going to let the CFR do your thinking for you, eh?

If your had READ my post, you might have understood what I meant.:spank:

The link I posted, was just ONE of the News stories,(search N. Korea at npr.org) over the course of several months, that, when looked at (or listened to) together, as a series of statements and provocative actions, most people with 1/2 a brain can "connect the dots." Most American today are too apathetic and mentally lazy to do that much thinking, :hangover:so we have organizations like the CFR to tell us what to think.

Just because an organization has a slick looking website and a LOT of money, doesn't mean everything they say, can be trusted without a critical analysis of, Who "they" are, What they are actually saying, and Why they would be saying what they are saying. You get about as much unimpeachable truth out of CFR as you do the White House.

Wake Up! Do your Own research, and then make up your Own mind based on that research.

[Rose Siding]

15. I'm apathetic and mentally lazy...

because I won't research to help you make *your* point? ROFL

If you have something, bring it to the discussion. But urging caution about who to trust on the internets is always appreciated, so thanks.

[Up2Late]

17. How do you get, "You are apathetic and mentally lazy" from...

"Most American today are too apathetic and mentally lazy..."

:wtf:Again you didn't read and/or understand my post correctly. I never said, "You are apathetic and mentally lazy" I said, "Most American(s), today, are too apathetic and mentally lazy..."


:eyes:Maybe I don't write or express myself clearly enough, or it could be my poor punctuation, sorry, grammar wasn't my best subject, or maybe it's just YOU who reads too much into what's posted here. I'd also be willing to bet, that most of the people here, have major reservation about the opinions and goals of the CFR, too.

My advice to you, not that you'll take the time to consider it, is that you should lean back from the computer, take some deep breaths, and maybe put on some calming music, to try to calm down. :smoke:

I heard it said a few years ago, that the biggest problem with the internet, and e-mail, is that it's TOO instant, and people no longer take the time to stop and consider what they are writing, like we did when we sent "Postal" mail and had to wait days, even weeks, for the response.

In other words, don't post angry, and try to remember, the is a DISCUSSION board of average folks, sitting at home voicing OPINION. If you don't agree with someone else's opinion, let it go. If someone disagrees with your opinion, fine, that's what we are here for, that's what a discussion is. Take a few minutes to read other posts and then come back to it later. This isn't a contest.

All I did was Post a New "Newswire" story, that seemed important and is a subject I've been concerned with for the last 3-4 years. Then I gave, not JUST to you, but everyone reading this thread, another source of information, to try to answer a question, and add to the discussion. I didn't say, "this link will answer ALL your questions and has ALL the facts you need on this subject," I said, here ya go, this source has more info. Why do I deserve to be attacked for that? :shrug:

If you want conflict or a place to voice your opinion, where only your opinion counts, maybe you should start your own blog, or call "Fox News" or something.

Chill out, go have a drink, something.

[Vitruvius]

13. Nuclear bombs are 60-year-old technology. EVERYBODY knows how to make

them. Therefore, anybody who wants them has them.

[NNguyenMD]

9. Iraq=2nd Largest Oil Reserve in the World N.Korea=National Security threat

I think we all know why a pussy like Bush would rather exhuast "all diplomatic measrues" with Kim Il Jong, 10 fold the psychotic sociopath as Saddam Hussein, he's too cowardly to stand up to a real threat.

[Dark]

10. I guess Saddam sent his WMD's to Kim Jong Il. eom

[Cori Cycle]

12. This cut to the chase and goes to

the point. Now * won't have to do all his whiny act, and say how N Korean have nuke and not telling us about it. Or Condi lies to us about fake evidence that N Korea has nuke.

They do.

Ha! Ha! Ha! This is 180 on *

[KingoftheJungle]

14. No shit sherlock

[yinkaafrica]

16. bush should dare them to prove it. "Bring 'em on!"