What’s The Big Deal Kerry? We Already Slept With The Enemy

 
North Korea ‘not even close’ to meeting standards on nuclear weapons, says Kerry

Secretary of state says US is talking to China about boosting sanctions and highlights ‘grotesque’ public executions on whim of leader Kim Jong-un

Reuters
Monday 18 May 2015 02.35 EDT

The US is talking to China about imposing further sanctions against North Korea as the reclusive country is “not even close” to taking steps to rein in its nuclear weapons programme, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, has said.

Speaking on Monday in the South Korean capital, Kerry said Washington continued to offer North Korea the chance for an improved relationship in return for signs of a genuine willingness to end its nuclear programme.

“To date, to this moment, particularly with recent provocations, it is clear the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is not even close to meeting that standard,” Kerry told a joint news conference with the South Korean foreign minister, Yun Byung-se. “Instead it continues to pursue nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.”

North Korea is already under heavy US and UN sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests but Kerry said further penalties were being considered.

“I think never has the international community been as united as we are now, that, number one North Korea needs to denuclearise,” Kerry said, adding a pending nuclear deal with Iran could serve as an example to North Korea.

“With respect to the methodology for boosting sanctions and other things, we [the United States and China] are discussing all of that now. China has obviously an extraordinary leverage.

“We will have security and economic dialogue with the Chinese in Washington in June and that will be the moment where we will table some of these specific steps.”

Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, declined to comment on Kerry’s remarks. China has a history of resisting tough moves against North Korea that have not been passed by resolutions of the UN security council, on which it sits with veto power.

Hong, at a daily news briefing, merely reiterated China’s calls for denuclearisation of the whole Korean peninsula.

In 2005, Pyongyang walked away from a deal with the US, Russia, South Korea and China to end its nuclear programme in return for diplomatic and economic rewards.

It recently tested what it said was a submarine-launched ballistic missile, raising regional tensions about the prospect of a heightened threat that already includes nuclear arms development and an arsenal of ballistic missiles.

North Korea is technically still at war with the South after the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and regularly threatens to destroy the South’s major ally, the US.

Kerry also said it was likely that the North would be referred to the international criminal court because of human rights violations, and singled out the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, as responsible for continued rights violations.

He said Kim’s leadership was “one of the most egregious examples of reckless disregard for human rights and human beings anywhere on the planet,” citing what he called “grotesque, grisly, horrendous public displays of executions on a whim and a fancy by the leader”.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week that the North’s defence chief had been executed with anti-aircraft fire which, if confirmed, would be the latest in a series of high-level purges since Kim took charge in 2011.

The UN general assembly has recommended that the North be referred to the tribunal for crimes against humanity after a UN inquiry detailed abuses in the country including prison camps and use of torture.

Diplomats say China is likely to veto any such bid.

South Korea Will Become One Of Ten Nuclear Powers (Dan 7:7)

India-Pakistan: Why South Korea Matters

April 28, 2015: Despite more economic and military aid from China Pakistan still has to face that fact that their military spends $7 billion a year compared to $40 billion a year for India. While China spends over $120 billion a year China is currently confronting most of its neighbors and the United States over territorial claims in the South China Sea. There are also claims against Indian territory, but India is part of a much more powerful anti-China coalition. Moreover India has a GDP of $2 trillion compared to $245 billion for Pakistan. While the per capita income for Pakistan and India has long been about the same, since economic reforms in the 1990s (less socialism more free markets) India has pulled ahead. Even more humiliating is the fact that many East Asian nations had the same per capita income as Pakistan and India in 1960 but are way ahead now. South Korea, for example, now has per capita income 17 times larger than Pakistan’s. South Korea concentrated on free markets, education and reducing corruption. That’s simple enough, but doing that has proved impossible so far for Pakistan (or India, which is at least trying). Worse for Pakistan’s rulers is the fact that more Pakistanis are aware of these discrepancies and asking “Why?”
Meanwhile, one of the unpublicized parts of the recent Chinese $46 billion aid and investment package is assurances that the thousands of Chinese who will accompany that money will be safe in general and especially from Islamic terrorists. Most of these Chinese will be involved with the $28 billion worth of infrastructure (roads, railroads and power stations) China is building. Thus Pakistan is organizing a special protection force of 12,000 men. This will consist of 12 infantry battalions (six from the army and six from the Rangers and Frontier Corps) and some special operations and intelligence personnel. China also wants more Pakistani action against Islamic terrorists (Turkic Uighurs) from China who have been based in Pakistan.
The $46 billion is in addition to a 2013 deal where China pledged to spend $18 billion to build a road from Pakistan’s Indian Ocean port of Gwadar and into northwest China. This will require drilling long tunnels through the Himalayan Mountains on the border (in Pakistani controlled Kashmir.) This new deal expands that into a more extensive project called the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. This will make it much easier and cheaper to move people, data (via fiber optic cables) and goods between China and Pakistan. China also gets a 40 year lease on much of the port facilities at Gwadar, which India fears will serve as a base for Chinese warships.
Pakistan is not getting along as well with its other neighbors. Pakistan has forced (since mid-2014) several thousand Islamic terrorists into eastern Afghanistan. In addition increasing anti-Afghan feelings in Pakistan has led to another effort to persecute and expel several million Afghans living (often illegally) in Pakistan. So far this year over 3,000 such refugees a month are returning from Pakistan. While many of these refugees could evade expulsion efforts over 40 percent of those who return cite growing anti-Afghan attitudes and harassment as the main reason for coming back to Afghanistan.
Then there is the Pakistani refusal to participate in the Arab effort to suppress pro-Iran Shia rebels in Yemen. This is important for the Gulf Arabs who are inclined to keep most of their troops out of Yemen. Iran is more and more threatening and while Pakistan refused to send troops they did promise to come in with troops if Saudi Arabia were invaded. The only likely invader is Iran, so Pakistan, also dependent on Saudi generosity, has not entirely backed away. Besides, Pakistan is Sunni and has nukes which is some protection against threats from a future nuclear armed Shia Iran.
India has joined Burma in pressuring China to do something about the continued shipments of Chinese weapons to tribal rebels in northern Burma and northeast India. China denies this is happening and points out that many Burmese rebels have long used Chinese weapons they bought from illegal dealers in China and then smuggled into Burma. China also points out that Burmese troops also use Chinese weapons. Burma and India counter that the rebels in both countries are using weapons China did not sell to the Burmese Army. Moreover these Chinese weapons (often older and cheaper designs) are showing up worldwide in the hands of rebels, terrorists and gangsters. The point here is that China is looking the other way as a huge illegal arms sales and smuggling operation goes about its business. China is in the midst of a major corruption crackdown so these complaints from Burma and India might be addressed this time around. Then again, maybe not.
The offensive against Islamic terrorists in the northwest, begun in mid-2014, continues. Actually, because of the large number of captured documents and prisoner interrogations there have been more raids and arrests outside the northwestern tribal territories. This has caused some problems because an army plan to go after Islamic terrorists in Karachi (the largest city in Pakistan, where about eight percent of all Pakistanis live) has encountered political resistance because of fear this is part of some secret plot to stage another coup.
The Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine is being felt as far away as India. That’s because the last five of 40 Indian AN-32 transports being upgraded in Ukraine have, well, sort of disappeared. Ukrainian engineers working in India to upgrade another 64 An-32s were called home and India can no longer get An-32 spare parts from Ukraine. The original contract called for 40 An-32s to be upgraded in Ukraine and another 64 in India. Now India faces the prospect of most of its aging An-32s becoming inoperable by the end of the decade. India is desperate to remedy this situation and is considering purchasing new transports. This is a very expensive alternative, but appears to be the only one.
April 23, 2015: In northwest Pakistan (Waziristan and Khyber) the military claims to have killed at least 47 Islamic terrorists over the last two days. This involved both ground operations and air strikes.
April 22, 2015: The U.S. revealed that a January 29 UAV missile strike on an Islamic terrorist compound in Pakistan (near the Afghan border) that killed six Islamic terrorists also killed two foreign hostages (an American held since 2011 and an Italian held since 2012) that American intelligence did not know were there. The two hostages had been kidnapped in Pakistan and held for ransom. The U.S. discourages payment of ransom because it encourages kidnappers to go after more Americans. The U.S. has carried out nearly 400 of these UAV missile attacks Pakistan since 2004.
April 20, 2015: Pakistan ordered another fifty JF-17 jet fighters, to be delivered by 2018. The first Pakistani JF-17 squadron became operational in 2010. Pakistan has already received sixty JF-17s as part of a project that began in 1992 and while it was a joint Pakistan-China development project China supplied most of the money and did most of the work. China, however, does not use the JF-17, only Pakistan. That’s largely because the JF-17 is assembled in Pakistan, although over 40 percent of the components come from China or Russia. The project has gone through several name changes (FC-1, Super 7).  The 13 ton warplane is meant to be a low cost ($20-30 million) alternative to the American F-16. The JF-17 is considered the equal to earlier versions of the F-16, but only half as effective as more recent F-16 models. The JF-17 uses the same Russian engine, the RD-93 that is used in the MiG-29. The JF-17 design is based on a cancelled Russian project, the MiG-33. Most of the JF-17 electronics are Western. The JF-17 can carry 3.6 tons of weapons and use radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It has max speed of Mach 1.6, an operating range of 1,300 kilometers and a max altitude of 17,000 meters (55,000 feet). China has tried to export the aircraft to other countries but found that, for what it cost, it was not competitive.
April 17, 2015: Pakistan agreed to send warships to help maintain the naval blockade of Yemen. Pakistan refused to supply warplanes or ground troops and Arab anger at this is growing. So the warships are a peace offering and willingness to support the UN approved arms embargo of Yemen.
April 16, 2015: India test fired another Agni III. This is a 48 ton ballistic missile that was first tested in 2006. It has a maximum range of 3,500 kilometers and a payload of 1.5 tons. Most of them are now aimed at China rather than Pakistan.
April 15, 2015: For the first time since 2012 Pakistan successfully launched a Hatf V ballistic missile. With a range of 1,300 kilometers, the missile can reach most of India. Pakistan sees missiles like this as essential to making Pakistani nuclear weapons a real deterrent to Indian invasion. The Indians are building an anti-missile system, with Israeli help and Pakistan is building more missiles and nuclear warheads in an attempt to create the capability to overwhelm these Indian defenses. Meanwhile, Indian politicians, press and public opinion all show no enthusiasm whatsoever for an invasion of Pakistan. There is, however, fear of Pakistan based Islamic terrorists making more attacks on India. Pakistan refuses to admit that this threat exists.
In eastern India (Bihar) police found a cache of Maoist weapons. Ammunition and equipment).
April 14, 2015: In eastern India (Chhattisgarh) Maoists began their usual April-June offensive by killing 13 police (and wounding 18) in three days of ambushes and raids. Maoist losses were, according to a Maoist captured later, more than twice as large. The police brought in reinforcements and during the rest of the month went on the offensive against the local Maoists.
April 13, 2015: India accused North Korea of continuing to sell Pakistan ballistic missile technology. It is already known that North Korea paid renegade Pakistani scientists at least $3.5 million for nuclear weapons technology in the late 1990s and that technical cooperation between the two countries continued.
April 12, 2015:  In northwest Pakistan (North Waziristan) American UAVs used missiles to kill four Islamic terrorists.
April 11, 2015: In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) tribal separatists were responsible for the night attack on a camp for workers building a bridge in a remote area. Twenty of the workers were killed and three survived with wounds. Police soon found and killed 13 separatists, including most of those responsible for the massacre.
April 10, 2015: Pakistan released (on bail) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi from jail. This enraged the United States and India because Lakhvi was the planner for the 2008 Islamic terror massacre (166 dead) in Mumbai India. Shortly thereafter Pakistan was sent convincing evidence and India asked that Lakhvi be arrested and extradited for prosecution in India. Lakhvi was arrested in 2009 but Pakistan refused to turn him over or prosecute him themselves. Lakhvi was a hero to many Pakistanis because he is a widely known leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba. This Islamic terror group specializes in attacks in India and is very popular among middle and upper class high school and college students. Lashkar i Taiba was organized and long supported by the Pakistani military, mainly to organize and carry out terrorist attacks in India. This is widely known in Pakistan where few people will dare criticize the attacks inside India.

The South Korean Nuclear Horn (Dan 7)

 

US, South Korea sign new nuclear pact

By Ben McGrath 
25 April 2015

The United States and South Korea reached an agreement on the latter’s nuclear program this week after nearly five years of negotiations. The deal will allow South Korea to expand its nuclear activities, softening previous provisions designed to prevent Seoul’s development of nuclear weapons.

The pact was signed Wednesday between US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert and Park No-byeok, South Korea’s lead negotiator on nuclear cooperation issues. The 21-point agreement calls for the establishment of a high-level panel to oversee its implementation. It will expire in 20 years, with the door left open for future amendments.

The treaty still requires the approval of President Obama and the US Congress, as well as South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Negotiator Park No-byeok told a news conference following the signing ceremony: “As the existing accord sealed 40 years ago had various components that needed to be improved, the new one contains various progress focusing on three main areas—spent fuel management, a steady fuel supply, and reactor export promotion.”

The US embassy in Seoul released a statement saying: “This agreement marks a major milestone for the US-ROK [Republic of Korea] alliance and reinforces the alliance as a linchpin of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Negotiations over South Korea’s nuclear program had been ongoing since 2010. A 1974 agreement was set to expire last year. However, with the two sides at an impasse, it was extended for two years to give negotiators more time.

South Korea’s primary concern was to establish its right to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods, both of which will technically continue to be banned under the new treaty. These processes could provide South Korea with an avenue to produce weapons-grade nuclear material.

New provisions, however, will allow South Korea to take steps toward uranium enrichment. Seoul, using material obtained only from the US, will be able to enrich uranium up to 20 percent under the oversight panel’s supervision. The agreement further states that future consultations could be held on this issue. “It is meaningful that we have opened the pathway for uranium enrichment,” a foreign ministry official stated on condition of anonymity.

South Korea will also be allowed to conduct research into a type of fuel reprocessing known as pyroprocessing—a method of recycling spent fuel that makes it more difficult to weaponize.

South Korea argued during the negotiations that the ability to enrich fuel would allow it to pursue energy deals with other countries. As one example, Seoul reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia in March to research the possibility of constructing two nuclear reactors over the next two decades, a deal valued at $2 billion.

South Korea, the world’s fifth largest nuclear energy producer, is also concerned that it is running out of space to store its used fuel rods. Currently 24 nuclear plants supply nearly 40 percent of the country’s energy needs and it is estimated that storage facilities will be filled to capacity within a decade. The new deal allows this spent fuel to be reprocessed in a third country approved by the US.

The United States is concerned that if given the opportunity, South Korea could develop its own nuclear weapons, thereby eroding Washington’s influence and stoking a regional nuclear arms race. In 2013, the US expressed similar concerns in relation to Japan when the latter opened the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, capable of producing enough weapons-grade plutonium to build 2,000 bombs annually.

The nuclear deal underscores South Korea’s dependent role within the US alliance. While making a few relatively minor concessions, the US continues to dictate what Seoul can and cannot do. The US is hostile to any alteration to the current relationship because South Korea is integral to any future war against China.

Washington’s concerns are not unfounded. Numerous figures within the South Korean ruling class have voiced their support for obtaining nuclear weapons. This includes conservative journalists and former right-wing lawmaker Song Yeong-seon, a longtime advocate of South Korean nuclear weapons. Chung Mong-joon, another former Saenuri Party lawmaker, son of the Hyundai Group founder, and one-time party leader, has also expressed his backing for such a plan.

In 2013, following North Korea’s third nuclear test, Chung stated during a speech at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington that South Korea should consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it ratified in 1975, and “match North Korea’s nuclear progress step by step while committing to stop if North Korea stops.” Chung claimed: “The only thing that kept the Cold War cold was the mutual deterrence afforded by nuclear weapons.”

While the government has never endorsed Chung’s position, the idea has been considered within South Korean ruling circles, to varying degrees, for decades. South Korea’s nuclear activities date back to the 1950s, but it was not until the 1970s that the program took off.

In late 1971, the military dictator Park Chung-hee, the current president’s father, instructed his staff to draw up plans to develop nuclear weapons. The following year, the US and South Korea signed the 1972 Atomic Energy Agreement, under which Seoul purchased an American nuclear reactor. However, once it became clear that Park was eyeing the acquisition of nuclear weapons, Washington forced the South Korean regime to sign an amended agreement in 1974 and ratify the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1975.

Despite these treaties, the Park government’s program carried on for two more years in secret in an effort to develop a nuclear bomb and a ballistic missile, known as the Baekkom (White Bear), as the preferred delivery system. In 1976, Park acquiesced to US pressure to give up the nuclear weapons program.

Through the latest agreement, Washington is again seeking to ensure that South Korea remains dependent on the US “nuclear umbrella” and thus an integral part of its military build-up throughout the Indo-Pacific region against China.

Korean Horn Doubles Nukes (Daniel 7)

 

North Korea may have DOUBLE the number of nuclear weapons previously believed, say Chinese military experts 

By Tim Macfarlan For Mailonline
12:32 24 Apr 2015, updated 12:59 24 Apr 2015

Pariah state may have 20 warheads not 10 as previous US forecasts held

• Stockpile of weapons could grow to 50 or even 100 within next five years
• US military believes secretive country has ability to miniaturise warhead and mount it on ballistic missile, though there have been no such tests yet 

North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads – double as many as previously thought, Chinese nuclear experts have warned. 

The pariah state may also have the capability to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to double its arsenal by next year, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Chinese estimates of Pyongyang’s nuclear production, relayed to US nuclear specialists, exceed most previous US forecasts of between 10 to 16 bombs, said the report, which cited people briefed on the matter.

Experts at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies earlier this year presented three scenarios for North Korea’s nuclear capability, predicting its stockpile of weapons could grow to 50 or even 100 within five years.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear detonations, the most recent in February 2013.

Asked about the report at a regular press briefing yesterday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he ‘did not have knowledge of the specific situation’.

‘We must persevere with denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula, persevere in safeguarding peace and stability, and persevere in resolving the relevant issue through dialogue,’ Hong said.

Earlier this month, US Admiral William Gortney, commander of the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the US military believes North Korea has the ability to miniaturise a warhead and mount it on a ballistic missile, although there had been no tests.

One such rocket is an intercontinental missile with could theoretically hit California as it is designed to carry a payload of more than 5,000 miles. 

Stanford University professor Sigfried Hecker was allowed to visit Pyongyang in 2010 and reported seeing a large uranium-enrichment facility. 

The Journal quoted him as saying: ‘Some eight, nine, or 10 years ago, they had the bomb but not much of a nuclear arsenal.

‘I had hoped they wouldn’t go in this direction, but that’s what happened in the past five years.

‘The more they believe they have a fully functional nuclear arsenal and deterrent, the more difficult it’s going to be to walk them back from that.’

North Korea carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, and has an extremely active ballistic missile development programme, although expert opinion is split on how much progress it has made, reports Agence France Presse. 

The Chinese estimate reflects growing concern in Beijing about the nuclear ambitions of its errant ally, and is the latest in a series of expert assessments that suggest Pyongyang is moving faster down the nuclear path than previously thought.  

Pyongyang demonstrated its rocket capabilities by sending a satellite into orbit, but it has yet to conduct a test that would show it had mastered the re-entry technology required for an inter-continental ballistic missile.

The other key question is how close the North is to being able to miniaturise a nuclear device that could be fitted on the tip of a missile.

In a white paper published in January, the South Korean defence ministry said the North had already taken its miniaturisation technology to a ‘significant’ level.

Under the Kim dynasty, represented by current leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has long used nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip in international relations.

Last month the country’s ambassador to the UK issued a chilling warning that North Korea would be prepared to use nuclear weapons.

In a rare interview, Hyun Hak-bong claimed the secretive state could launch a deadly warhead ‘anytime’.

North Korean Nuclear Horn Expands (Daniel 7:7)

North Korea expands nuclear arsenal, Chinese experts say

Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY 2:10 p.m. EDT April 23, 2015

BEIJING — Nuclear experts in China have revealed that North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads and could double that arsenal by next year, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The total exceeds current U.S. assessments of the secretive state’s nuclear weapons.

The Chinese experts believe North Korea has a greater domestic capacity to enrich uranium than previously thought, Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University nuclear expert and former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, told the Journal.

The Chinese estimates were shared in a closed-door meeting with U.S. nuclear specialists in Beijing this February, said the report. The growing stockpile will complicate international efforts to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear program, said Hecker, who attended the February meeting.

“I’m concerned that by 20, they actually have a nuclear arsenal,” he said. “The more they believe they have a fully functional nuclear arsenal and deterrent, the more difficult it’s going to be to walk them back from that.”

U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the revelations cast a shadow on the pending nuclear deal the United States and other world powers are negotiating with Iran to curtail that country’s nuclear program. The agreement under discussion would ensure that country’s nuclear program remains peaceful. The 1994 agreement between the Clinton administration and North Korea was supposed to stop a North Korean nuclear weapons program.

“We saw how North Korea was able to game this whole process,” Royce told the Journal. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran had its hands on the same playbook.”

North Korea has barred inspectors from many of its nuclear sites. Royce said U.S. experts do not know if North Korea has more than one factory developing uranium fuel. In a hearing Wednesday, Royce said verification and inspections of Iranian military sites that the Islamic Republic officials have placed off limits would be a key measure of a successful deal.

The Korean Nuclear Horn Rises (Daniel 7:7)

China warns on rising North Korea nuclear capability: WSJ

SEOUL

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance at the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang October 14, 2014.

 

Reuters/KCNA

(Reuters) – Chinese nuclear experts have warned that North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads and the capability to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to double its arsenal by next year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Chinese estimates of Pyongyang’s nuclear production, relayed to U.S. nuclear specialists, exceed most previous U.S. forecasts, which range from 10 to 16 bombs currently, said the report, which cited people briefed on the matter.

Experts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies earlier this year presented three scenarios for North Korea’s nuclear capability, predicting its stockpile of weapons could grow to 20, 50 or 100 within five years.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear detonations, the most recent in February 2013.

Early this month, U.S. Admiral William Gortney, commander of the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the U.S. military believes North Korea has the ability to miniaturize a warhead and mount it on a ballistic missile, although there had been no tests.
(Reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Paul Tait)

The Korean Nuclear Horn (Daniel 7:7)

South Korea is trying to walk back a US general’s alarming assessment of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities

Jeremy Bender

South Korea’s Ministry of Defense has contradicted the assessments of the general in charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on North Korea’s potential ability to miniature nuclear warheads, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters at a Pentagon news conference on April 7 that Pyongyang had the capability to place miniaturized nuclear warheads on its latest KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Pyongyang has “the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland,” Gortney said.

But South Korean Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo countered at an April 13th press conference that Gortney’s remarks were “not made with a thorough assessment of North Korea’s capabilities.” 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Seoul’s official position is that while North Korea has made strides towards miniaturization, the north has so far failed to produce a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a missile. South Korea has also raised the question of whether the KN-08 is actually functional, given that North Korea has yet to flight-test the missile.

Still, Gortney did say on April 7 that the US opts for a more cautious assessment of North Korea’s capabilities and is “prudent” in its deicion-making when it comes nuclear weapons. So US policy may be thinking in terms of nuclear miniaturization and a possible ICBM capability as a precaution, even if there’s no “smoking gun” to prove that North Korea currently has either technology.

This position was repeated by Lt. Col. Jeff Pool, a Pentagon spokesman, who told the WSJ that “given the consequences of getting it wrong, it is prudent for a military planner to plan for the worst.”

North Korea experts John Schilling and Henry Kan estimate that the KN-08 would have a maximum range of 5,600 miles, making the missile capable of hitting the West Coast of the continental US. The weapon, however, is unlikely to have the accuracy required for precision targeting of large US cities.

US Admits N Korea Could Nuke US

 

 N. Korea Capable of Nuclear Strike at US, Military Leader Says

April 07, 2015 6:18 PM
Jeff Seldin

Top U.S. military officials believe North Korea is now capable of launching a nuclear-armed missile at the United States.

“Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland,” Admiral William Gortney, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, told reporters Tuesday during a Pentagon briefing. “We assess that it’s operational today, and so we practice to go against it.”

Gortney cautioned that U.S. officials have yet to see Pyongyang test the KN-08, which so far has been displayed only during military parades. But he called the U.S. assessment a “prudent decision.”

The “mobile nature” of the KN-08 has left U.S. officials concerned about losing “our ability to get the indications that something might occur,” Gortney said. Still, he said he had “high confidence” that U.S. missile systems would be capable of defending the country from a potential North Korean strike.

This is not the first time U.S. officials have warned of the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

In a written statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, National Intelligence Director James Clapper warned that Pyongyang had taken “initial steps” toward fielding the KN-08.

As far back as October 2014, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, General Curtis Scaparrotti, was cautious in downplaying North Korean claims that it could deliver a nuclear warhead.

“They’ve had the right connections, and so I believe [they] have the capability to have miniaturized a device at this point,” Scaparrotti said. “They have the technology to potentially actually deliver what they say they have.”

A report issued Tuesday by the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said Pyongyang has about 1,000 ballistic missiles capable of reaching South Korea and Japan. But it also said North Korea faces “significant problems” with its longer-range missiles.

The report’s authors concluded North Korea would need help from foreign technology to be able to hit the U.S. accurately.

Even Korea Is Threatening Babylon (Rev 17)

North Korea ready to strike US with nuclear missile ‘anytime

• By Umberto Bacchi | March 20, 2015 11:53 GMT
  

North Korea has said it would use nuclear weapons as a retaliatory measure (REUTERS/Jason Lee)

North Korean officials have claimed the secretive regime has the capability of launching a nuclear missile at “anytime”, a development that if confirmed could have worrying implication for global security.
It has been widely known that the Hermit Kingdom is able to build nuclear weapons, but it is unclear whether it also possesses the technology to miniaturise warheads and mount them on ballistic missiles.

Now, Pyongyang’s envoy to London has claimed it does. Ambassador Hyun Hak-bong told Sky News the North Korean army is “ready for nuclear war”.

“We are prepared,” he said. “That is why I say if a sparkle of a fire is made on the Korean peninsula, it will lead to a nuclear war.”

Asked if North Korea has the ability to fire a nuclear missile, Hyun replied: “Anytime, anytime, yes.”
“If the United States strikes us we should strike back,” he added.

The claim came as the US and South Korea are staging annual joint drills that regularly anger Pyongyang.

The “Key Resolve/Foal Eagle” exercises, the world’s largest joint military drill, begun earlier this month and are due to continue until 24 April, involving thousands of troops.

The drills were welcomed with a heated editorial by North Korea’s ruling party mouthpiece newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, which called the exercises an example of Washington’s “vicious hostile policy”.

“Nuclear war is not a game. If the US thinks it can survive and win a nuclear war, it will be a delusion of an idiot,” the paper wrote.

In the Sky interview, ambassador Hyun however said North Korea would not “press the button first” but use nuclear weapons only as a retaliatory measure.

“We are peace-loving people. We do not want war. But we are not afraid of war,” he said.

In February, a US research institute predicted that North Korea could build as many as 100 nuclear weapons in the next five years.

The US special representative for North Korea Policy, Sung Kim, said that the US government was “deeply concerned” about North Korea’s growing nuclear might, following the report by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

“Obviously we are deeply concerned about the fact that the North Koreans are continuing to advance their nuclear capabilities; we know that they are continuing to work on their nuclear programme,” Kim told Reuters.

The report describes a “worst case scenario” in which Kim Jong-un’s despotic government is able to build 100 nuclear warheads by 2020, with the country’s current nuclear stockpile believed to consist of about 16 nuclear missiles.

The report suggested Pyongyang has succeeded in miniaturising nuclear warheads, and its missiles are able to reach South Korea and Japan, while it is developing a longer range model capable of striking the US.