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United States Deploys USS McCain and USS Chafee With Aegis Anti-Missile Technology Off North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (C) visits to the construction place for the Heechon power plant at an undisclosed place in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA March 26, 2009. North Korea has put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions already imposed on the reclusive state for past weapons tests
The United States Navy has stated that two destroyers (USS McCain and USS Chafee) which are fitted with Aegis anti-missile technology have left port in Japan to patrol the waters off of North Korea in the event of a missile launch.The US Navy spokesman said the two destroyers – the USS McCain and USS Chafee – equipped with Aegis technology capable of tracking and destroying missiles had left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan. “I would say we are ready for any contingencies,” he added.
And, Japan has previously stated that they would shoot down the Taepodong-2 missile should North Korea launch it (Target dates: April 4 – 8).
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: North Korea, USS McCain, USS Chafee, Kim Jong-il, Missile Defense, Aegis
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North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities
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 TalksNorth 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 WeaponsNorth 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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor
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 WeaponsNorth 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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear Talks
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 WeaponsNorth 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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
*****UPDATE*****
 North Korea plans to shut reactor in July: report
North Korea plans to seal its nuclear reactor, the source of weapons-grade plutonium, in the second half of July, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing an unidentified North Korean diplomatic source.
“To stop the reactor, it will take about a month according to our specialists,” the North Korean source was quoted as saying by Interfax.
“So we are counting on sealing it in the second half of July, in accordance with the agreements reached at the six-party talks,” the source said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (L) and South Korea’s chief envoy to six-way talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear program Chun Yung-woo speak to reporters after their dinner at a hotel in Seoul June 18, 2007. The chief U.S. envoy in nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea said on Monday he hopes moves toward ending Pyongyang’s nuclear armament program can return to a tight timeline now that a banking dispute has been settled.
Envoy Sees North Korea Progress
North Korea could be ready to begin shutting its plutonium producing reactor within weeks as the first step toward disabling the unit by the end of this year, the top American negotiator on the North’s nuclear weapons program said here today.
Christopher Hill, an assistant secretary of state, said stalled efforts to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons program could move ahead after a pivotal weekend when Pyongyang invited inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit for talks on verifying and monitoring a shutdown.
â€This is an event we have been looking forward to for some time,†Mr. Hill said following talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.
Today, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said it would send a team to Pyongyang next week to discuss how its inspectors would verify the shutdown, The Associated Press reported from Vienna.
Good news but Flap worries that North Korea has reneged before – so TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Also, word from Pyongyang is that the 65 year old Kim Jong-Il is ill and there appears a void in the leadership to succeed him.
Will this spell trouble for the conclusion of the agreement?
Stay tuned…….
A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth 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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons
Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans with a defaced North Korean flag at a protest demanding disarmament of North Korea’s nuclear weapons in Seoul June 15, 2007. The path to disarming North Korea of its nuclear weapons will prove much harder than clearing a deadlock over its funds that took nearly two years, South Korea’s chief envoy to six-way talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programmes, was quoted as saying on Friday.
U.S. intelligence agencies think North Korea is continuing development of nuclear weapons, as well as working on “miniaturization” of weapons for missile warheads, according to a senior Bush administration official.
Since the February nuclear accord reached in Beijing, North Korea has continued work on weapons, said a senior Bush administration official involved in North Korean affairs.
“There are no indications that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, to include the weaponization and miniaturization,” the official said.
U.S. intelligence officials think North Korea, which received equipment through the covert Pakistani nuclear-supplier network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, obtained Chinese documents on designing a small warhead, the key to developing a nuclear weapon small enough for missile warheads.
The Chinese-language warhead design documents were first uncovered in Libya, which gave up its nuclear program in 2003.
Three recent missile tests in North Korea over the past several weeks were anti-ship cruise missiles fired during exercises that were not unusual for North Korean military forces at this time of year, the official said.
“Those who are looking at the six-party process and where we are today with [the Banco Delta Asia funds transfer] are very disappointed,” the senior official said. “This doesn’t build confidence. This is a time that is very tense and we want to go to implementing the 13 February agreement. So even though this is a normal exercises, I think there is an element of disappointment that North Korea would move in that direction.”
North Korea has shown no signs of preparing of another underground nuclear test but “they could have a nuclear test at any time with minimal or no warning,” the official said.
The October test was a “nuclear event” but the blast caused by the test was smaller than North Korea had hoped, the official said.
Does America have another surprise awaiting this 4th of July? Remember when Kim Jong-Il test fired a missile towards Hawaii last year?
There needs to be resolution of these negotiations or UN sanctions should resume against North Korea.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
AFP: Bush should reject North Korea nuclear deal: ex-UN envoy
US President George W. Bush should reject an agreement reached at six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, said Washington’s former UN envoy, John Bolton.
“This is a very bad deal,” Bolton told CNN television, saying it contradicts Bush’s policy and would show US weakness at a time when it is challenging Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
“I’m hoping that the president has not been fully briefed on it and he still has time to reject it,” he said.
He said the agreement, which needs the approval of the six governments involved in the talks, “undercuts” UN sanctions resolutions against North Korea, “and I think the Iranians have only to follow the same example.”
“If the would-be proliferators can simply through persistence get the United States to compromise on its basic principles, they’re going to succeed in proliferation. That’s why this deal is such a bad precedent,” Bolton said.
China circulated Tuesday a “final” joint statement outlining the first steps North Korea would take to end its nuclear drive and the economic rewards it would receive in return, said envoys meeting in Beijing.
Officials have yet to specify the details of the new joint statement, but they made it clear that North Korea would be given rich incentives in terms of oil and other energy aid if it took first steps towards disarming.
The chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, described the text as “excellent.”
Flap heard Bolton on the Laura Ingraham Show this mornng and he made a convincing argument against the DEAL.
Somehow Bolton is more articulate in the private sector working for the American Enterprise Institute than as a Bush Administration parrot.
James S. Robbins: Deal or No Deal
What’s Korean for “sucker?â€
North Korea’s chief arms negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, is known as “the Smiling Assassin.†Do you suppose the North Koreans use similar grudgingly respectful terms to describe their American counterparts? Somehow I doubt it. Check out the terms of the latest agreement with North Korea. Pyongyang gets $400 million in aid, chiefly in the form of energy, and we ease economic sanctions. In return they agree to begin to give up the means to produce new nuclear weapons, and establish working groups to discuss maybe shutting down their nuclear program at some future date as yet undetermined. They also get to maintain their current nuclear stockpile. The deal is a dramatic diplomatic victory, but unfortunately not for the U.S.
Read it all.
What yesterday was optimism is now the question: Deal or No Deal?
NO DEAL, continue hastened deployment of National Missile Defense and tighten sanctions.
America can do better.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
A South Korean reads a newspaper reporting North Korea has agreed to nuclear disarmament in Seoul, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007. North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.
AP: N. Korea agrees to nuclear disarmament
North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.
The deal marks the first concrete plan for disarmament in more than three years of six-nation negotiations, and could potentially herald a new era of cooperation in the region with the North’s longtime foes — the United States and Japan — also agreeing to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang.
Under the deal, the North will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons heavy fuel oil within 60 days for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, to be confirmed by international inspectors.
For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid.
The agreement was read to all delegates in a conference room at a Chinese state guesthouse and Chinese envoy Wu Dawei asked if there were any objections. When none were made, the officials all stood and applauded.
North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan (L) and U.S. envoy Christopher Hill head for the closing ceremony of the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, in Beijing February 13, 2007. North Korea agreed to take steps towards nuclear disarmament under a groundbreaking deal struck on Tuesday that will bring the impoverished communist state more than $300 million worth of aid. Under the agreement, which was reached by six countries in Beijing after nearly a week of talks, Pyongyang will freeze the reactor at the heart of its nuclear programme and allow international inspections of the site.
Good News for America and Kudos to the Bush Administration.
No nukes for Libya and now no nukes for the Korean Peninsula. However, remember TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Flap cannot help but think that this had some leverage in the negotiations.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
AP: Tentative Deal in N. Korea Nuclear Talks
The U.S. envoy to talks on North Korea’s nuclear program said Tuesday that negotiators reached a tentative agreement on initial steps for the communist nation’s disarmament.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the agreement outlined specific commitments for North Korea and would set up working groups to implement those goals to begin meeting in about a month. He declined to give other details.
“I’m encouraged by this that we were able to take a step forward on the denuclearization issue,” Hill said.
Good News but deploy National Missile defense anyway. The goal will be to make North Korea like Libya. And keep the North Korean nucelar scientists there and not emigrate to Iran.
Peace through strength?
You betcha……
Previous:
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 Nukesâ€
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
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
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Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll
Map locating Hwadaeri in North Korea — the site of the country’s first nuclear weapons test.
Telegraph: N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing
North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.
Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran’s nuclear scientists.
Flap previously reported the presence of Iran military representatives during North Korea’s July 2006 short and medium range missile tests and aborted test of the Taepodong 2 missile – an ICBM capable of reaching the United States.
North Korea provoked an international outcry when it successfully fired a bomb at a secret underground location and Western intelligence officials are convinced that Iran is working on its own weapons programme.
A senior European defence official told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea had invited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to study the results of last October’s underground test to assist Teheran’s preparations to conduct its own — possibly by the end of this year.
There were unconfirmed reports at the time of the Korean firing that an Iranian team was present. Iranian military advisers regularly visit North Korea to participate in missile tests.
Flap reported at the time that Iranian nuclear scientists were present at the North Korean nuclear test.
So, now this more revealing expose of the threat of a joint Iran-North Korea program to develop nuclear tipped ICBM missiles.
An audio analysis of this crisis by Con Coughlin is here. Click here to download the podcast.
This is an ALARMING development of the Iran Nuclear Crisis. And how do you think Israel is handling this news?
Intelligence estimates vary about how long it could take Teheran to produce a nuclear warhead. But defence officials monitoring the growing co-operation between North Korea and Iran believe the Iranians could be in a position to test fire a low-grade device — less than half a kiloton — within 12 months.
The precise location of the Iranian test site is unknown, but is likely to be located in a mountainous region where it is difficult for spy satellites to pick up any unusual activity.
Teheran successfully concealed the existence of several key nuclear sites — including the controversial Natanz uranium enrichment complex — until their locations were disclosed by Iranian dissidents three years ago.
Western intelligence agencies have reported an increase in the number of North Korean and Iranian scientists travelling between the two countries.
The increased co-operation on nuclear issues began last November when a team of Iranian nuclear scientists met their North Korean counterparts to study the technical and political implications of Pyongyang’s nuclear test.
The Iranians are reported to have been encouraged by the fact that no punitive action was taken against North Korea, despite the international outcry that greeted the underground firing.
This has persuaded the Iranian regime to press ahead with its own nuclear programme with the aim of testing a low-grade device, which would be difficult for international inspectors to detect.
The “NUCLEAR POINT OF NO RETURN” is imminent. As the United States bolsters its military resources including 21,000 plus more troops and an additional AirCraft Carrier Strike Group it is not too difficult to conclude that these resources may be meant to militarily eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and/or additional Iranian military infrastructure.
Oh, yeah!
Those United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea and Iran are certainly working well.
NOT
Update:
Just in: Iranian president derides U.S. threats
The United States is incapable of inflicting “serious damage” on Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, as a second U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed toward the Gulf as a warning from Washington for Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region.
“U.S. rhetoric against Iran has not increased,” Ahmadinejad said. “In 2003, they openly threatened to attack Iran. Now they have indirectly made such threats.”
He spoke with confidence over Iran’s ability to withstand a strike. “The United States is unable to inflict serious damage on Iran,” the president said. He also noted, “They (U.S.) are not really in a position to carry out this action (of attacking Iran). I believe there are many wise people in the United States who would not let it happen.”
Stay tuned……..
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Defiant of United Nations Sanctions, Plan Missile War Games
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The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad AliLarijani, Israel