North Korea has nukes?

No big shock.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2974213.stm

N Korea talks end amid nuclear claims
North Korea has said it now has nuclear weapons, according to US officials.
Sources from the Bush administration say the news was not a shock as it merely confirmed American intelligence suspicions.

North Korea has not commented on the US claims, and has previously denied similar US reports.

But correspondents say the report will increase tension between the two countries who ended talks on Thursday, a day earlier than planned.

The stand-off between the US and North Korea began six months ago - the last time a Washington official said Pyongyang had admitted to a nuclear weapons programme.

\'Blazing row\'

The indications are that the first face-to-face talks for months between officials from Pyongyang and Washington did not go well, says the BBC state department correspondent Jon Leyne.

He says the admission by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that strong views had been expressed was "barely disguised code for a blazing row".

Officials from the US and North Korea met for two days in Beijing for talks hosted by China to address an impasse generated by a row over Pyongyang\'s nuclear programme.

Discussions may continue between the US and China, and between China and North Korea, but our correspondent says the early ending of the direct talks aimed at breaking the ice means there were problems.

Mr Powell said the two sides would assess progress but he also issued a stern warning to Pyongyang.

"They should not leave... with the slightest impression that the United States and its partners and the nations in the region will be intimidated by bellicose statements or by threats or actions they think might get them more attention or might force us to make a concession that we would not otherwise make," he said.

"They would be very ill-advised to move in that direction."

North Korea is not believed to have carried out any nuclear tests, which could be detected by other countries.

The last time the US and North Korea negotiated a nuclear deal, in 1994, the talks lasted 19 months.

Assurances wanted

The delegations were led by the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs, James Kelly, and the deputy director general of North Korea\'s American Affairs Bureau, Li Gun.

The US wants to persuade North Korea to close down its nuclear programmes, while the North wants assurances the US will not attack.

South Korea and Japan both hope to join the discussions at a later stage.

Their absence at the initial meeting was seen as a concession to the North, which demanded one-to-one talks with Washington. But the US is keen to include the North\'s neighbours in discussions.

Crisis roots

The last time James Kelly held talks with a North Korean delegation, he accused them of pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, sparking the crisis in October.

President Bush later suspended oil aid shipments under a 1994 agreement designed to prevent Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons.

In December, North Korea restarted its nuclear facilities, expelled United Nations inspectors and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Last week North Korea announced that it was already reprocessing its spent fuel rods - the step necessary to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

That statement was amended on Monday to read that the North was "successfully going forward to reprocess" the 8,000 rods.

This new statement appears to fit with Western and Asian intelligence assessments that the reprocessing plant at the Yongbyon nuclear plant is not yet operational.

Yeah, whats always baffled me is that N. Korea has basically hit us with a pie on the face saying "WE HAVE NUKES, WE WANT TO USE THEM" and yet we\'re chasing some guy who we ony speculated to having something.

Well N. Korea is smart by saying they have nukes, at least imo. All we can ask for is that they not use them on S. Korea, we have a lot of influence in that area, with Japan China and S. Korea all in our favor. But I wouldn\'t suggest China would stay loyal forever considering they are communist and so is N. Korea. It\'s a shame that we can\'t live in a peaceful world and we have to police every f*cking body. Let me be prez I fix all our situations.

Train of thought over this.

Iraqi was in violation of human rights abuses ..no wait N Korea is just as bad if not worse

Iraq could sell WoMD to terrorists .. but wait N Korea has said they will sell weapons grade plutonium to the highest bidder even terrorists/

Real possible reason for not taking action

[list=1]

• The action would be a challenge for once (no 3rd world equipped Iraq or stone age Talliban
• N Korea is not a threat to Israel

hey at least old Rummy didn\'t sell N Korea WoMD...

at least that admitted it

i think we should stay out of there bizz

[Jumpman]

Blah blah blah North Korea is ALL talk. They\'re just looking for attention. They may have to balls to launch a nuke, but I think they know better. If not, the US will just have to deal with them too. Hope the US doesn\'t fail so miserably at diplomacy at this time.

Look what I found.
Hey yo, hooomiieee! *secret handshake*
http://www.economicreport.co.kr/imges/nat0209.gif

Originally posted by fastson
Look what I found.
Hey yo, hooomiieee! *secret handshake*
http://www.economicreport.co.kr/imges/nat0209.gif

pfffttt :rolleyes:

its still not as good as the Saddam & Donald "I sold my soul to satan" Rumsfeld picture.

Originally posted by Vapor Snake
Yeah, whats always baffled me is that N. Korea has basically hit us with a pie on the face saying "WE HAVE NUKES, WE WANT TO USE THEM" and yet we\'re chasing some guy who we ony speculated to having something.

That may be why we attacked Iraq and not N. Korea. Iraq wasn\'t going to be launchiong a nuclear strike anytime soon....