N. Korea Raises The Stakes and Calls. Tells Shrub, We Have NUKES!

posted by admin on Thursday April 24, @06:45AM

Is He Playin With A Full Deck?

Sources: N. Korea admits having nuclear weapons

Senior administration source: Pyongyang threatens tests

Thursday, April 24, 2003 Posted: 1:55 PM EDT (1755 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sources close to the U.S. talks with North Korea and China told CNN Thursday that North Korea has admitted to having nuclear weapons and threatened to test them in the near future.

Deputy Director General Li Gun, Pyongyang's representative to the talks, made a "blatant and bold" announcement that his country had nuclear weapons, and asked U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs James Kelly, "What are you going to do about it?" a source told CNN.

One official said Li said Pyongyang would consider dismantling its nuclear weapons program if the United States signed a written security statement promising not to attack North Korea. Li said, however, it was not possible to dismantle a nuclear weapon.

http://cnn.com

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U.S. restarts production of plutonium parts for bombs

--snips--

The United States has regained the capability to make nuclear weapons for the first time in 14 years and has restarted production of plutonium parts for bombs, the Energy Department said Tuesday.

The announcement marks an important symbolic and operational milestone in rebuilding the nation's nuclear weapons complex, which began a long retrenchment in the late 1980s as the Cold War ended and the toll of environmental damage from bomb production became known.

"It is a sign that after a long period of decline, the weapons complex is back and growing," said Jon Wolfsthal, deputy director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Energy Department weapons expert. "To the average U.S. citizen, it would be accurate to say we have restarted the production of nuclear weapons.

But critics question whether the Bush administration is going overboard in its investments into the nuclear weapons complex. Thomas Cochran, a scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the government is now spending about $6 billion annually on the nuclear weapons complex, 50 percent more than it did during the Cold War.

http://www.detnews.com/2003/nation/0304/23/nation-145152.htm

Powell: N Korea talks OVER (a day earlier than expected)

N Korea talks over: Powell

April 25, 2003

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that three-way talks between North Korea, China and the United States had ended a day earlier than expected and warned Pyongyang that Washington would not respond to threats.

Powell said the talks had "concluded" and that while US and Chinese officials might hold talks on Friday, the North Korean involvement was over. Three days of talks, from April 23 to 25 had been scheduled initially.

While announcing the end of the discussions, Powell delivered a strongly worded warning for North Korea not to make threats as Pyongyang ratcheted up its rhetoric.

"They should not leave this series of discussions that have been held in Beijing with the slightest impression that the United States and its partners and the nations in the region will be intimidated by bellicose statements or by threats or actions they think might get them more attention or might force us to make a concession that we would not otherwise make," he said.

More

http://www.news.com.au

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