This 22 February 2002 file photo shows the Yongbyon nuclear site in North Korea. North Korea´s admission revealed by the United States 16 October 2002 that is has been working on making nuclear weapons follows decades of suspicion concerning the country´s nuclear development programme. AFP Photo...

North Korea declares itself a nuclear threat.  little George must not explain why we should go after Iraq and not North Korea.  It seems that there is a world power greater than little George.

When the world was about the witness the insanity of little George and his start a world war mania, North Korea steps up out of the blue and says: "What are you doing to do about our nukes little George?"

All the nonsense about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction have to take a back seat to the reality that North Korea has a bomb and a way to deliver it to the United States.  

I know of no other announcement in the world that more clearly exposed little George and his imperialist quest for oil than the one made by North Korea that it had nuclear weapons.

I have no doubt that someone, someone with a lot more power than little George, played the North Korea card.  The timing was just too perfect.  

We will never know who this or these mystery players are but we should have little doubt that there are centers of earthly power which we will never read about in the headlines but who were not going to let a little Hitler convulse the world into a Christian/Muslim bloodbath over the United States quest for oil and little George and Daddy George's quest for personal gain on the international oil market.

John WorldPeace
October 20,  2002

Oct. 17, 2002, 12:40PM

N. Korea called on to halt nuclear program

  WASHINGTON -- President Bush believes it is "troubling, sobering news" that North Korea has a nuclear weapons program, his spokesman said today.

Talking to reporters who accompanied Bush on a trip to the South, spokesman Scott McClellan said the president planned to bring up the issue in talks next week with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

McClellan said that Bush decided to address the issue through diplomatic channels. "We seek a peaceful solution," he said.

The United States and South Korea, stung by North Korea's admission that it has a secret nuclear weapons program, are calling on Pyongyang to reverse course and abide by promises to renounce development of these armaments.

The startling disclosure, revealed Wednesday night by the White House, changed the political landscape in East Asia, setting back hopes that North Korea was on the road to becoming a more benign presence in the region.

Privately, White House officials said Bush and his senior advisers decided to confront the problem in a low-key fashion. Bush, for example, planned no public statements on it today.

The disclosure adds to the administration's list of foreign policy headaches, coming on top of a possible U.S. attack on Iraq and the overall U.S. war on terrorism.

Said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.: "Two things have to be done immediately. First, they have to open up their country to allow inspections to examine the facilities. And second, they have to agree to destroy whatever weapons of mass destruction they have. That has to be a commitment."

Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said, "Obviously, North Korea is a matter of concern. But clearly, the one we have to deal with immediately is Iraq."

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea acknowledged having "more powerful" weapons. U.S. officials have interpreted that statement as an acknowledgment that North Korea has other weapons of mass destruction. However, the same officials say they are unsure whether North Korea actually does possess biological or chemical weapons.

On Aug. 29 U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said: "In regard to chemical weapons, there is little doubt that North Korea has an active program."

Bolton was in China today at the start of a 10-day swing that also will take him to Britain, France and Russia -- all nuclear powers. He also plans a stop in Brussels for talks with European Union leaders.

Bolton is being accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who will travel separately after the Beijing stop to Japan and South Korea.

Any administration inclination to try to confront North Korea, which Bush has labeled as part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran, could be tempered by a desire not to become overextended internationally.

McCormack said Wednesday night North Korea was guilty of a serious infringement of a 1994 agreement with the United States under which Pyongyang promised to be nuclear-free in return for economic assistance.

"The United States and our allies call on North Korea to comply with its commitments under the nonproliferation treaty and to eliminate its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner," McCormack said.

U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said North Korea told U.S. diplomats that it was no longer bound by the anti-nuclear agreement.

In Seoul, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik, said South Korea has consistently pursued the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula in line with international agreements. Japan and South Korea are treaty allies of the United States.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said late Wednesday the United States had been ready to offer North Korea economic and other benefits if Pyongyang agreed to curb missile programs, end threats and change its behavior in other ways.

"In light of our concerns about the North's nuclear weapons program, however, we are unable to pursue this approach," Boucher said.

For a time, North Korea had seemed ready to shed Bush's "axis of evil" designation. Pyongyang was carrying out capitalist reforms and reaching out to both Japan and South Korea. It also resumed talks with the United States earlier this month.

As McCormack made the announcement, Undersecretary of State John Bolton was flying to East Asia to consult with allies on the changed situation.

Under the 1994 agreement, in return for renouncing nuclear weapons, Pyongyang was to receive two light water nuclear reactors to replace the country's plutonium-producing reactors.

Groundbreaking for the new reactors, which were supposed to have been completed by 2003, just took place in August, with a State Department official on hand.

The two countries had just resumed high-level security talks less than two weeks ago for the first time since October 2000. It was during those discussions that North Korea informed the United States of its nuclear activities.

The United States has been suspicious about North Korea's nuclear intentions for some time despite the 1994 agreement.

That has been a U.S. concern dating from before the 1994 agreement. International inspections were supposed to clear up that mystery but the North never permitted them despite a commitment to do so.

The North Korean revelations apparently refer to more recent nuclear development activities, possibly encompassing the period when former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang in October 2000. President Clinton thought seriously about making a visit as well before leaving office.

Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly visited North Korea on Oct. 3-5 and demanded that the communist state address global concerns about its nuclear and other weapons programs, prompting the disclosure. After Kelly's departure the Koreans called the U.S. diplomat "high-handed and arrogant."

U S seeks peaceful North Korean solution

by Arshad Mohammed, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Oct. 17) - The United States said on Thursday it wanted a diplomatic solution to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program rather than threatening military action as it has against Iraq for its alleged arms programs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he believed North Korea already had "a small number" of nuclear weapons, although U.S. intelligence has not confirmed this, and other U.S. officials suggested that North Korea probably needed foreign help to develop its uranium enrichment program.

North Korea admitted it had the secret nuclear weapons program -- in violation of the 1994 Agreed Framework under which it agreed to halt its nuclear efforts -- at a session with U.S. officials in Pyongyang on Oct. 4.

While some analysts suggested that North Korea's admission showed a desire for serious talks with the United States, a U.S. official who attended the meetings in Pyongyang said it was unclear why North Korea had admitted to the nuclear program.

"It was not apologetic. It was defiant and it was belligerent," he said. "It certainly wasn't ... a desperate cry for help. It was: 'We have this and we have more."'

The admission, made public by U.S. officials on Wednesday night, clearly stunned many U.S. officials and lawmakers, who insisted that they viewed Iraq as the greater threat as the United States prepares for possible war against Baghdad.

U.S. officials said they were considering all options on how to respond and suggested that they and U.S. allies might pressure Pyongyang by restricting food or fuel aid.

But they made it clear that they would not treat North Korea the same as Iraq, which Bush has threatened with military action if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fails to end his alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

"The president believes this is troubling, sobering news," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters as Bush flew to Atlanta. "We are seeking a peaceful resolution. This is best addressed through diplomatic channels at this point."

Rumsfeld, one of the administration's leading hawks, told reporters: "Iraq has unique characteristics that distinguish it and that suggest that it has nominated itself for special attention because of the breadth of what they're doing."

Despite Rumsfeld's belief that North Korea already has a few nuclear weapons, other U.S. officials declined to say how much, if any, enriched uranium North Korea may have produced or whether it has actually made any nuclear weapons with it.

News of Pyongyang's nuclear program upsets the delicate balance in the Korean Peninsula, one of the Cold War's last frontiers, where the United States has stationed some 37,000 troops to protect South Korea against attack from the North.

'DIRECT LEVERAGE'

In January Bush branded North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil" seeking weapons of mass destruction but he has pursued markedly different policies toward them, moving toward war with Iraq while pursuing negotiations with Pyongyang.

Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, accused the White House of keeping Congress in the dark about the North Korean program as it debated a resolution authorizing the use of force on Iraq. Bush signed the resolution on Wednesday.

"It is profoundly disturbing that material information was kept from the American people and their representatives at such a critical juncture," Delahunt said in a statement.

Separately, a senior U.S. official suggested North Korea probably had foreign help to develop its program although he declined to say who might have helped it. Washington has long-standing concerns about whether Russia and China have sold technology that can be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Before North Korea's admission, U.S. officials said they were ready to offer Pyongyang political and economic support if its government were willing to make major changes in its arms programs and its conventional forces arrayed against South Korea. Any such aid has now been put on hold.

The senior U.S. official said the United States was consulting China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and other nations, hinting that Russia and China might exercise some "direct leverage" against North Korea by restricting trade with it.

"There are options that would go at the issue of supplying commodities to the North. The Chinese, for example, supply food and fuel. And then there are our own options in terms of the Agreed Framework," the official said.

The Agreed Framework was brokered by Washington after the Korean Peninsula, divided since the 1950-53 war, faced a crisis in the early 1990s when the North was determined to have enough plutonium to make one or two nuclear weapons.

Under the 1994 accord, Pyongyang promised to freeze its nuclear program. In return, Washington would help provide the North with two light-water nuclear reactors for power generation, which are harder to divert to weapons material production than the North's Soviet-era models.

Under the Agreed Framework, the United States provides fuel to North Korea. Asked if it would continue to do so, the senior U.S. official replied, "We're looking at all of our options."

N. Korea Pact seems nullified

by Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Oct. 20) - Top U.S. officials said on Sunday they would discuss with ''friends and allies'' a response to what they view as the scrapping of a 1994 agreement for North Korea to freeze its nuclear arms program, as a key U.S. senator warned that the communist state was a bigger threat than Iraq.

In appearances on several talk shows, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the administration was taking at face value statements by North Korea that its newly disclosed program to produce enriched uranium -- a nuclear weapons ingredient -- ''nullified'' the 1994 Framework Agreement.

''Well, when you have an agreement between two parties and one says it's nullified, then it looks like it's nullified,'' Powell said on ABC's ''This Week with George Stephanopoulos.''

The developments underscore a need for the Bush administration to reorder its foreign policy, which is now focused on making Iraq dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs, said U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Robert Graham, a Florida Democrat.

North Korea has two nuclear weapons already in hand, the potential to build more, and long-range missiles under development that could hit the United States, making it a bigger threat than Iraq, Graham said.

''If you put the two, North Korea and Iraq, on the scales and ask the question, which today is the greater threat to the people of the United States of America, I would answer the question North Korea. And I think that needs to be part of the rebalancing of our foreign policy priorities,'' he said on CBS's ''Face the Nation.''

He also criticized the Bush administration for delaying until last week its disclosure that North Korea had admitted on Oct. 4 to violating the agreement, by seeking to make enriched uranium. Administration officials rejected the criticism.

Under the 1994 deal, called the Agreed Framework, North Korea pledged to freeze operation and construction of graphite nuclear reactors suspected of being a part of a covert weapons program.

In exchange, the United States would ship 500,000 tons of fuel oil annually to North Korea and help it build two ''light-water'' nuclear power reactors, whose byproducts cannot be easily used to produce nuclear weapons.

Asked if Washington would cut off the oil shipments, Powell said, ''We're looking at all of the things that rest on the agreed framework to see what is in our interest to keep doing, what is in our interest not to keep doing.''

The United States was not now discussing possible new economic sanctions, Powell said.

EVALUATING RESPONSE

He said Washington was evaluating its response with ''friends and allies,'' including South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China. Talks would continue at a summit of Asia-Pacific nations next weekend in Mexico.

Diplomacy must move carefully, Powell said, noting that it was essential that stored plutonium at a facility at Yongbyon remain under international monitoring, as provided under the agreement. It would create an ''extremely grave situation'' if North Korea were to withdraw the plutonium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons, from supervision, he said.

The Bush administration assumes North Korea ''might have one or two'' nuclear weapons, Powell said. He said he did not want to speculate about the possibility of a U.S. military strike against North Korea, but said the United States was trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

Graham said he suspected the arms dispute would come to the brink of military force, as it did in 1994, but said the Bush administration would ''take diplomacy quite a long way.''

Speaking on CNN's ''Late Edition,'' U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said, ''This is a situation that cannot remain unresolved ... a nuclear-armed North Korea is a huge problem for peace and security.''

The nuclear revelations have upset the delicate balance on the Korean Peninsula, one of the Cold War's last flash points. They are likely to feature prominently in discussions on Friday when President Bush meets Chinese President Jiang Zemin at Bush's Texas ranch.

Bush will also hold a three-way meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Jim Dae-jung at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturday.

Bush has called North Korea part of an ''axis of evil,'' along with Iraq and Iran, that threatens to transfer weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. Powell said on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' that North Korea was much stronger militarily than Iraq -- which Bush is considering going to war against -- but that North Korea was burdened by its deep poverty.

Powell rejected charges that the administration delayed telling members of Congress about North Korea's arms program to avoid affecting their vote authorizing military force against Iraq. He said several members had been briefed about North Korea in advance of the Iraq vote earlier this month.

''It was a separate issue of enormous importance and gravity, and no politics were being played with it,'' Powell said on Fox News Sunday. But Graham said the White House had demonstrated a pattern of selectively declassifying information when in the interests of the administration. 

Reut16:09 10-20-02

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