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The Secretary of Defense has made the Obama Administration’s position on the looming North Korea Taepodong-2 missile test later this week quite clear. They plan to watch and do nothing.

The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

Appearing on “FOX News Sunday,” Gates said North Korea “probably will” fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: “And there’s nothing we can do about it?”

“No,” Gates answered, adding, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”

Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is “fully prepared” to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.

“I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it,” Gates said. “But I don’t think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point.”

North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.

Gates said while he doesn’t think North Korea has the capability yet to shoot off a long-range nuclear-tipped missile, “I don’t know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.”

Flap looks forward to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to see Kim Jong-Il to bring him some autographed basketballs like her husband’s Secretary of State did. Maybe Kim will stop his ICBM nuclear weapons program to put them in his trophy case.

How unbelievably WEAK is this crazy Obama policy toward North Korea. The Iranians who are in North Korea taking notes must be laughing their asses off.

Watch the Fox News Sunday panel discuss North Korea’s long range missile capabilities here.

Satellite image of North Korea’s nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. North Korea has agreed to disable the facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex by December 31 under US supervision, according to a six-nation agreement released by China.

North Korea agrees to disable nuke plant

North Korea agreed to provide a “complete and correct declaration” of its nuclear programs and will disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31 under an agreement reached by North Korea and five other countries released Wednesday.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said as part of the agreement, the U.S. will take the lead in seeing that the facilities are disabled and will fund those initial activities.

“The DPRK agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities subject to abandonment under the Sept. 2005 joint statement and Feb. 13 agreement.

“The disablement of the five megawatt experimental reactor at Yongbyon, the reprocessing plant at Yongbyon and the nuclear fuel rod fabrication facility at Yongbyon will be completed by 31 December 2007,” Wu said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The agreement came after negotiations last week in Beijing involving China, the U.S., Japan, Russia and South and North Korea. It puts in writing a verbal promise that North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan gave to U.S. envoy Christopher Hill a month ago.

More good news out of North Korea.

But, Flap cannot help but note national missile defense which in some way drove Kim Jong-Il to the bargaining table.

And remember North Korea has a way in abrogating agreements so trust but verify here.

Denuclearization is the next step – the removal of all fissonable material from North Korea and the removval of their existing nuclear weapons.

Stay tuned…..

Previous:

North Korea Watch: North Korea to Delcare and Dismantle ALL Nuclear Facilities By the End of 2007

North Korea Watch: IAEA Inspectors Reach Nuclear Agreement

North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor

North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear Talks

North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007

North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News

North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons

North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?

North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

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U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, left, and South Korea’s Foreign Minister Song Min-soon pose for the media prior to their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 22, 2007. Hill said Friday that North Korea is prepared to promptly carry out a pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor, but warned that the country’s complete denuclearization will not be easy.

US-NKorea set timetable to shut reactor

Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North’s plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday.

Christopher Hill — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs — said in response to reporters’ questions on arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport that they were looking at “a three-week timeframe … starting Friday” for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor.

Hill arrived in Tokyo Saturday to brief his Japanese counterpart on the outcome of his two-day surprise trip to the North Korean capital.

Good news but the Unites States must push ahead.

Trust But Verify.

Stay tuned……

A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.

Previous:

North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear Talks

North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007

North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News

North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons

North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?

North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing

North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted

North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukes”

North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush

North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea

North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test

North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers

North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan

The North Korea Files

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill, right, is greeted by Ri Gun, vice director of North Korean Foreign Ministry’s U.S. Affairs Department, left, in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Thursday June 21, 2007. The high-ranking U.S. envoy made a rare trip to North Korea on Thursday in a surprise bid to accelerate the international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

U.S. nuclear envoy visits North Korea

The chief U.S. nuclear envoy made a rare trip to North Korea on Thursday in a surprise bid to accelerate international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill’s trip came ahead of the expected resumption of six-nation talks next month following the resolution of a key financial dispute that had blocked progress.

The trip is Hill’s first to North Korea, as well as the first by a U.S. nuclear envoy since the latest crisis with the North over its nuclear development began in late 2002.

The United States wants to end North Korea’s nuclear program. The North Koreans and Kim Jong-Il have a history of abrogating “DEALS”.

So, Christopher Hill is in North Korea to seal the deal after the transfer of the Macau funds and the transfer of fuel oil.

“I think the U.S. is trying to keep North Korea from dragging its feet any longer” now that the banking dispute is resolved, said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University. “Unless something is done right now, North Korea could stall for time on another pretext.”

Nam said the North appears to want to reaffirm concessions it would get from Washington before it closes down and seals the reactor, including removing Pyongyang from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.

Hill planned consultations Thursday and Friday on the nuclear issue “to move the process forward,” the State Department said in a statement.

The Clinton administration allowed North Korea to develop their nuclear program by weakness and diplomatic neglect.

This won’t happen again.

Stay tuned……..

A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.

Previous:

North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007

North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News

North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons

North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?

North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing

North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted

North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukes”

North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush

North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea

North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test

North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers

North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan

The North Korea Files