. Military Space News .
NUKEWARS
N. Korea threatens nuclear escalation

NKorean test a 'step in wrong direction': IAEA chief
North Korea's nuclear test last month is a cause for deep regret that has generated a climate of confrontation, the head of the UN's atomic watchdog said on Monday. Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board at the start of its week-long meeting, Mohamed ElBaradei said he was "greatly concerned" at the news that Pyongyang had conducted a nuclear test on May 25. "I deeply regret this, particularly at a time when the prospects for progress on nuclear disarmament are far batter than they have been at any time in the recent past," ElBaradei said. "This is a wrong step in the wrong direction which has again created an environment of confrontation," the Egyptian diplomat said. "I call on all parties to continue to work for a comprehensive solution through diplomatic means that would bring the DPRK (North Korea) back to the NPT (nuclear non-proliferation treaty) and address its security concerns, humanitarian needs and other political and economic requirements," he said. North Korea announced in mid-April that it was ceasing all cooperation with the IAEA, ordered the agency to remove all containment and surveillance equipment from the Yongbyon nuclear facilities and asked IAEA inspectors to leave the country. The UN adopted a resolution against the hardline communist state last week after it tested a long-range missile and a nuclear bomb and stormed out of a six-nation disarmament agreement. The resolution calls for tighter inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned missile and nuclear-related items, a stricter arms embargo and new targeted financial curbs to choke off revenue for North Korea's nuclear and missile sectors. In a defiant response to the new UN sanctions, Pyongyang vowed to turn all the plutonium it produces into bombs and to begin a separate weapons programme based on enriched uranium.

100,000 rally in NKorea against UN sanctions: state media
More than 100,000 people rallied in the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Monday to denounce United Nations action against the isolated communist state, official media said. The Korean Central News Agency also quoted a military official as telling the crowd that the North "will promptly exercise the right to preemptive strike to beat back the enemies' slightest provocation," referring to the United States. The UN Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to impose tougher sanctions for Pyongyang's recent nuclear test, its second. North Korea had already vowed to build more bombs and to start a new weapons programme based on uranium enrichment in response to the sanctions. At Monday's "mammoth" rally, Kim Ki-Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, was quoted blaming Washington for pushing for the sanctions, adding they would not weaken the North. "The UNSC's 'resolution on sanctions' is an intolerable mockery of the dignity of the Korean people and an arrogant criminal act of wantonly violating its sovereignty," Kim was quoted as saying. North Korea is also prepared to "deal telling blows at the vital parts of the US and wipe out all its imperialist aggressor troops no matter where they are in the world," the report quoted Pak Jae-Gyong as telling the rally. It said Pak is vice-minister of the People's Armed Forces and was speaking on behalf of the Korean People's Army. The report, which could not be independently verified, said various military and political figures, students and "people from all walks of life" attended the huge rally, but there was no mention of leader Kim Jong-Il taking part. (AFP report)
by Staff Writers
 Pyongyang, North Korea (UPI) Jun 15, 2009
North Korea has vowed to develop its nuclear program and build more nuclear bombs in response to a U.N. vote for tough new sanctions against it.

The announcement, which was carried in the official news agency KCNA Saturday, said the communist regime would enrich uranium and use all its plutonium stocks for nuclear weapons.

The threat follows a U.N. resolution to expand and tighten its sanctions grip on the state.

The North has abundant supplies of high-quality natural uranium, according to North Korean expert Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. Highly enriched uranium can be used for weapons-grade material, while plutonium can be used in nuclear weapons.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the communist state by imposing an embargo on the shipment of weapons from it and broadening an earlier ban on the import of arms by giving authority for the inspection of North Korean ships.

Pyongyang called the U.N. move -- carried by a 15-0 vote -- a "blockade" and said it would view any U.S.-led attempts as an "act of war."

"No matter how hard the U.S.-led hostile forces may try all sorts of isolation and blockade, the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), a proud nuclear power, will not flinch from them," KCNA said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swiftly responded by calling Pyongyang's threat to "weaponize" all plutonium as "provocative" and "deeply regrettable."

Last week's U.N. Resolution 1874 was passed in response to an underground nuclear test carried out by the communist North on May 25. Pyongyang said the test was more powerful than the previous one it carried out in October 2006.

The explosion was picked up by international monitoring devices and drew swift international condemnation. U.S. President Barack Obama described it as a threat to international peace and in "blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council." South Korea went into crisis talks.

Hours after the blast, which created a 4.7 magnitude quake on the Richter scale, the North test-fired three short-range missiles.

Obama has so far been unable to persuade the North Koreans to re-enter negotiations on denuclearization. Inter-Korean relations have become strained since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February.

Lee has insisted that Seoul would no longer provide unconditional economic aid to the North and that any concessions depended on Pyongyang's cooperation on the nuclear issue.

North Korea is thought to possess enough reprocessed plutonium for between six and nine nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang last year reported that it had extracted some 30 kilograms of plutonium from its Yongbyon nuclear complex in recent years but did not say whether it has been weaponized.

Analysts say, however, that Kim Jong Il's regime has not yet mastered the technology to make a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a missile.

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
 Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com


Memory Foam Mattress Review
SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
 Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


NUKEWARS
SKorean leader in US as NKorea tension soars
 Washington (AFP) June 15, 2009
 South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak on Monday started a visit to the United States to plan action on North Korea, which staged a giant rally in a defiant show of support for its nuclear drive. The US Congress approved a resolution supporting Lee against the North hours after he arrived. Lee was due to meet late Monday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before a summit Tuesday with ... read more






The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement