North Korea Watch: White House – Syria Must Come Clean About Illicit Nuclear Activities

This undated image from video released Thursday April 24, 2008, by the Central Intelligence Agency shows a photo of a covert nuclear reactor being built in Syria’s eastern desert near Al Kibar, according to the narrated video.

The White House said Thursday that North Korea’s secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was “a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world,” raising doubts about Pyongyang’s intention to carry through with a promised disclosure of its nuclear activities.

Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”

Top U.S. intelligence officials who briefed reporters said they had high confidence in the judgment that North Korea had aided Syria with its nuclear program and the intention was to produce plutonium. But they claimed only low confidence for the conclusion that it was meant for weapons development, in part because there was no reprocessing facility at the site — something that would be needed to enrich nuclear material for use in a bomb.

The Israeli strike on Sept. 6, 2007, ripped open the structure, known as the Al Kibar reactor, and revealed even more evidence to spy satellites: reinforced concrete walls that echoed the design of the Yongbyon reactor.

After the attack, Syria tried to bury evidence of its existence and erected a new building to hide the site. The building is not believed to house a new reactor, the officials said.

“This coverup only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities.”

Syria will stonewall the issue and North Korea have proven to be liars, thieves and terrorists.

The United States must trust but verify any further nuclear agreements with North Korea and make sure they include ALL proliferation activities.

In the meantime, uranium enrichment centrifuges continue to spin at Natanz in Iran.

Flap is not hopeful for a negotiated settlement with either North Korea and/or Iran. Moreover, the Bush Administration is punting the entire crisis into the next Presidency.

Speaking about the next Presidency, John McCain today challenged Democrat Barack Obama’s approach to diplomacy on Thursday, saying U.S. charges that North Korea gave nuclear assistance to Syria showed the folly of unconditional talks with foreign adversaries.

McCain said U.S. disclosures that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel last year cast a new light on Obama’s willingness to meet unconditionally with a leader like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il.

Without naming Obama, McCain said those who would meet with a leader like Kim “should explain to the American people how talking unconditionally to dictators like Kim Jong-il in the aftermath of recent disclosures advances American interests.”

And, we saw what giving an autographed Michael Jordan basketball to Kim Jong-Il accomplished for North Korean nuclear weapons development and proliferation, now didn’t we?

Stay tuned……

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North Korea Nuclear Watch: Syrian Plutonium Reactor Close to Completion

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