TFN Country Alert

North Korea Drops the N-bomb
by Christian DeHaemer
Publisher, Gressor
October 5, 2006

Deparate, isolated, living in nothing more than the squalor of a crippled economy, the North Koreans are playing the nuclear trump card.  But it may soon find out that the hole it’s digging may be inescapable as the United States, Japan, China and South Korea could respond with extreme force.

Kim Jong-il’s regime has made threats in the past with no follow-through, but the testing of seven failed ballistic missiles in July has many fearing a very real nuclear threat shortly.  (It’s not as if the U.S. policies of preventing North Korea from becoming a nuclear state were working.)

The North Koreans may finally be ready to take that next step in seeing U.S. actions as an act of war.  While there is no proof of nuclear capability yet, the North Koreans do claim to have weaponized 8,000 rods from a nuclear reactor, which, according to estimates, should yield fissile material for about 10 nuclear devices at most.  That, according to Financial Times, “would probably give North Korea the freedom to test one without worrying about significantly diminishing its arsenal.”

Don’t expect the U.S. to sit idly by with threats of a nuclear North Korea.  The U.S. has already sent warnings to North Korea and has made abundantly clear that it is still prepared to sit down and discuss the issue.  But North Korea has made clear that it will conduct a test and will not return to six-party talks.

Outside of U.S. policy, China has warned that North Korea will face “serious consequences.”  Russia is holding talks with North Korean leaders to prevent tests and to convey that any test would make the situation worse.

As for possible test dates… According to Fox News, “October 8, for example, marks the anniversary of Kim’s ascension as head of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 1997.  It also would coincide with the likely approval of South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to become secretary general of the United Nations.”

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