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North Korea Admits to Having Nuclear Weapons

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we-knew-that-anyway dept.

steelvadi writes "North Korea has now admitted to possessing nuclear weapons. Government officials there claimed that they are needed as defense from an increasingly hostile attitude from Washington. It was also stated that N. Korea will not be reentering negotiations on disarmament for the foreseeable future. "

21 of 2,056 comments (clear)

  1. I think "admits" is probably the wrong word. by bigtallmofo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Replace "admits" with "brags" and then further replace "brags" with "bluffs" and then it might be a little more true.

    This is obviously a serious matter, but we should not believe anything that Kim Jong Il says without adequate proof.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
    1. Re:I think "admits" is probably the wrong word. by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You are correct, of course. Although I think you did conveniently skip the Chirac quote about Saddam "probably" having weapons.

      What I should have typed, instead, is the folks in the West Wing were the (almost) the only folks in the world to start a war without absolute proof. The folks in the West Wing were the only folks in the world willing to go to war for preventive reasons.

      Since Kim Jong Il, in all probability, has nukes, I am finding the West Wing's position on his WMD's to be more than a bit hypocritical. (And, yes, I do know that Kim Jong Il could theoretically put a mushroom cloud over Beijing, Seoul and/or Tokyo whereas Saddam never had that capability).

  2. Same song, different day by cwford · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is par for the course with North Korea. 1. Make ridiculous, aggressive statements in the media. 2. Pull out of talks. 3. Demand concessions. 4. Get concessions. 5. Restart talks. 6. Repeat. yawn. nothing to see here.

  3. It's all jokes but.... by teiresias · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm sure there will be a lot of jokes about WMDs etc but this is a clear and present danger. North Korea, as displayed by their current actions, is unpredictable. While many will say it's common knowledge that North Korea had nuclear weapons, this is a big deal in that they admitted it.

    What's even more frightening is that they're not willing to talk about it. The 6 party talks only resumed a few weeks ago I believe. This can't be a good thing that they've stop talks.

    My nervous level has moved up to Red (sorry had to end with a joke).

    --
    -Teiresias
    1. Re:It's all jokes but.... by Enoch+Root · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What's EVEN more frightening is that they've wanted to have talks with the US for years, but the US has refused any direct negociations with them.

      I don't know whether to laugh or cry about the boast that Irak's invasion was supposed to make the world safer. One year later, and there's now two hostile countries who armed themselves with nuclear power in DIRECT RELATION to a perceived threat to their sovereignty coming from the US.

  4. Checklist by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Lesse...

    North Korea:
    Dictator: Check
    Oppressed people: Check
    No legitimate elections: Check
    WMDs: Check
    Threatening to the West: Check

    Send in the troops! What's that? We're going to use diplomacy instead? We're going to try to avoid tens of thousands of deaths and injured? Wow, good thinking. Too bad about that other country...

  5. Re:Korea by shreevatsa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Government officials there claimed that they are needed as defense from an increasingly hostile attitude from Washington But did they start making the nuclear weapons only after Washington started turning hostile?

  6. Raise your hands... by rscrawford · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...if you were surprised by this admission. Anyone?

    *crickets*

    Thought not. See, North Korea is a real threat. Probably why Bush is ignoring it. Unlike those massive armed-to-the-teeth maniacs hoarding nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in Iraq. Good thing we went in there. Seems like every man, woman, and child there had a shoulder mounted nuclear missile launcher.

    --
    -- The reason it's called the right wing? Irony.
  7. don't worry by e**(i+pi)-1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We don't worry about the N. Korea nukes: CNN has
    this morning already moved to a more relevant story:
    "Prince Charles to marry Camilla Parker Bowles".

  8. we already know... by TheRealJFM · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "The North also **repeated** a claim to have built nuclear weapons for self-defence."

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/42 52 481.stm

    Also:

    "28 September: North Korea says it has turned plutonium from 8,000 spent fuel rods into nuclear weapons. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon said the weapons were needed for "self-defence" against "US nuclear threat". "

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/26 04 437.stm

    This is just a repetition of a bargaining trick they've used before, do not listen to them.

    They want us to be afraid of them as much as our leaders do....

    --
    Joseph Farthing
    http://josephfarthing.com
  9. I wonder if Kim Jong-Il is dead? by Malor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You know, a thought occurred to me the other day. Remember that huge explosion in NK last year? Some sources have claimed that it was a failed assassination attempt. Since that time, as far as I know, we haven't seen ANYTHING of KJI. There have been multiple signs of his hold on power weakening, like portraits being taken down for awhile. Further, his 'appearances' have been video-only, wearing clothes that are at least two years old.

    So what if he's dead, killed in that explosion, and they've been covering it up? NK is exactly the kind of place to try to do something like that.

    Just a thought....

    1. Re:I wonder if Kim Jong-Il is dead? by madaxe42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Kim Jong-Il has always been dead. We have always been at war with EastAsia....

      In all seriousness, it doesn't matter if KJI is dead or not - the North Korean regime is here to stay - no amount of military force will change that - it is *far* too deeply ingrained in the majority of the populace there. Having visited NK some years ago on a tourist visa (which is like gold dust) I was, I must confess, rather surprised by what I found. Generally, in urban areas, the quality of life was good - party members lived comfortably, others less comfortably, but a lot better than much of what you'll see in the western world. We weren't allowed into the countryside, however, so.....

      Short of a popular revolution, which isn't going to happen, nothing will change the situation there. It's perfectly possible that they have a nuclear capability, but they aren't quite the mad-cap nation the western media seems to wish to portray them as.

      The degree of control held over the populace by the state there is astounding - it would be extraordinarily hard for anyone to organise any kind of dissent - the vast majority are party supporters, and the last thing you want to do is criticise the government in front of someone who can make you disappear.

      Juche is their way of life. They have no real wish to expand, they just want to be left alone. For now, at any rate.

  10. Re:So? by Phanatic1a · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is nonsense.

    Why does it force anyone to not be stupid? Surely you're not talking about MAD, which is not only a grotesque oversimplification of the nuclear strategy pursued during the cold war, but also becomes exponentially less stable a game with each new player at the table.

    Let's say a nuclear bomb explodes in Haifa or Tel Aviv tomorrow.

    Who do you retaliate against? With only two nuclear powers, it's a relatively easy choice to decide who was responsible.

    What about with three? Four? Seven? Some of whom are demonstrably unstable and hostile states?

    The concern isn't that North Korea will do something "stupid" with their bombs in an obvious and overt fashion. The concern is that North Korea will do something with their bombs by proxy, or in an attempt to implicate a third party.

    It forces all sides to not be stupid.

    You'd think the mass starvation of your own citizenry would force a national leader to not be stupid, but that hasn't stopped Kim. Why do you think nukes which can spread that same level of suffering outside his own borders will?

  11. MAD is a pretty good way to deter invasion by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Yes, it is a deadly game of chicken, but it could work to keep a certain country from invading.

    Perhaps it isn't actually Mutually Assured Destruction, but you have to admit, pointing those nukes at Seoul and Tokyo and then saying "Hey US, stay the F**K out of my country or I push the button!" could be rather persuasive.

    I can't say I agree with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but perhaps it will keep the US from invading another country.

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  12. Re:Condoleeza Rice by fnj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Assurances, huh? Ever think for a minute that maybe North Korea has no reason to believe anything the Bush administration says?

    I don't agree with all the Bush policies either, and CERTAINLY not all the tactics and strategies, but what is the basis for this? The rap is just the opposite - that Bush says what he is going to do and then does it, even if preponderant thinking regards it as insane.

  13. Are you a liar, or just ignorant? by Engineer-Poet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    North Korea got its nuclear technology from China and Russia. The proliferation-resistant pressurized water reactors (primarily financed and built by S. Korea) which were part of the Clinton deal are not even partially completed.

    --

    Sustainability and energy independence essay
  14. Re:Uh oh... by Doug+Dante · · Score: 3, Interesting
    merican businesses are just slightly less corrupt than North Korean politicians.

    What the F*** are you talking about?

    America doesn't run penal labor colonies

    America doesn't lock you and your whole family up because of what your father did before you were born.

    America doesn't kill people who try to escape.

    Look, you can make all the jokes you want, but North Korea is an Orwellian human rights nightmare. I'm not saying that bad things don't happen in America or worldwide at the behest of her corporations, but we make an effort to police ourselves. We try to be the good guys, and in North Korea they'll pop a cap in your a** for just looking like you're thinking the wrong thing.

    PS: Sometimes swearing is necessary in response to extreme stupidity.

    --
    The world will not get better through technology. We must seek to be better people.
  15. Gangs by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This reminds me very much of an interview with a violent gang member, about 6 years ago. He claimed gang members had to have guns, to defend themselves against the police.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  16. Re:Thank Goodness... by Dread_ed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Bush stopped the Clinton deal's funding and changed to a hard-line approach, and now we see ourselves in the present situation."

    This sentence seems to try to establish a causal relationship between Washington politics and the development of nuclear weapons by the North Koreans. If we briefly examine the timeline we see contrary evidence: Koreans try to get nukes, we offer to do something, they still try to get nukes in spite of our intervention, we change tactics, they still try to get nukes in spite of our new tactics. It is obvious that they operated from day 1 with the intentions of having offensive nuclear capabilities and the actions that we took did nothing to deter them.

    I will posit this: regardless of the position of Washington, China, or any government other than the North Koreans themselves, the North Koreans would have sought out and acquired offensive nuclear technology.

    The world is rapidly approaching a time and place where nuclear weapons are not out of the reach of any country with the desire to posess them. I can even see individuals with great wealth and/or political power with their own personal arsenal. Those that acquire them will do so for their own reasons and motivations and efforts to stop them will most likely prove fruitless.

    Sleep well...

    --
    When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
  17. Double Profit! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) Establish your currency as the only currency with which to purchase oil.

    2) Print off money whenever you need, trade it with foreign nations for goods and services, knowing that it won't be redeemed for goods from your own country but rather hoarded and traded by other nations, and that your country will thus grow rich

    3) Profit!

    4) Notice that some scumbag in Iraq is trading oil for euros instead of dollars

    5) Realize that if you can buy oil with euros instead of dollars all those dollars you printed are going to come home like so many bad cheques

    6) Invade Iraq and establish a puppet government

    7) Profit!


    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  18. Re:United States Admits to Having Nuclear Weapons by easter1916 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well said, but I disagree on a few points. Mugabe *is* a vicous autocrat. Dear Leader in North Korea has watched his own people starve as a result of his loco economic policies. I wouldn't trust either of these guys with anything, let alone nukes.

    Some of the rest is a bit subjective, but you seem to have pretty much summed the situation up.