North Korea Harvesting More Plutonium for Nuclear Weapons
In an alarming development, North Korea announced today that it i had taken steps that could allow it to harvest more plutonium for atomic bombs and that it would bolster its arsenal. The Christian Science Monitor has the story here.
And the Christian Science Monitor has an analysis piece here:
North Korea announced Wednesday that it had completed removing spent nuclear fuel rods from a reactor at its main nuclear complex, reports The Associated Press.
The procedure would allow the secretive, totalitarian state to obtain weapons-grade plutonium that could be used to build a nuclear bomb and it is the “the communist state’s latest provocation amid a deadlock in disarmament talks,” says AP.
The step comes after South Korean officials confirmed last month that the Yongbyon reactor was shut down, which would allow the rods to be removed and be reprocessed to extract weapons-grade plutonium. The North didn’t specifically say Wednesday it would take such a step.
Western nuclear experts say that reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods could yield enough plutonium to make between five to eight nuclear bombs. Should North Korea test a nuclear weapon, it would “alter the strategic balance in Northeast Asia,” reports Reuters.
However, questions remain as to whether North Korea is bluffing, and whether its leaders have decided that demonstrating their nuclear capacities would serve their purposes better than continued ambiguity about them, reports The New York Times. Intelligence analysts examining satellite imagery of North Korean actions at its nuclear site have yet to reach a consensus as to exactly what is going on.
Read the rest here.
The patience of the United States is exhausted.
How long will it be before the B-2’s are flying from Guam to take out these nuclear facilities?
Update #1
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said that the missile North Korea fired last week is an upgraded version of Russia’s SS-21, marking its first official confirmation of North Korea’s missile launch.
Read the story here.
The Huffington Post has the story and comments section here.
So, now, North Korea has the nuclear material and warheads, then add the delivery capability.
Out of time, Mr. President, either they stand down or a pre-emptive strike on their nuclear and missle manufacturing facilitites is indicated.
One Comment
Mixed Humor
I don't view the immediate danger as North Korea launching a nuclear missile as much as I do them proliferating materials and technology to the highest bidder. They are cash strapped and the people are starving, you can feed alot of people by selling al Qaeda, Hezbollah or some other proxy group a nuclear weapon.
Kim Jong Il must realize that any launch of a weapons system against South Korea, Japan, the United States or anyone else will be met with overwhelming force that will result in his eviction, or incineration.
I think proliferation is a bigger worry and unfortunately we are in a situation where there are no easy solutions. Nobody wants to go back to the policies of the 1990s, where North Korea basically blackmailed Clinton into building them a couple reactors, then reneged on their promise.