North Korea to conduct nuclear test
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea triggered global alarm on Tuesday by saying it will conduct a nuclear test, a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it views as a deterrent against any U.S. attack. But the North also said it was committed to nuclear disarmament, suggesting a willingness to negotiate.
The contradictory statement fits a North Korean pattern of ratcheting up tension on the Korean Peninsula, a Cold War-era flashpoint, in an attempt to win concessions such as economic aid. The strategy has had mixed results in recent years as the totalitarian regime sinks deeper into isolation and poverty, with China serving as its lifeline for food and fuel.
Just another blip in a slow news week.
PeterJ
…and the Iranians breathes a sigh of relief.
srv
Another success for the Axis-of-Evil rhetoric.
jh
North Korea with nukes.
I should be sobbing with terror.
Instead, I’m furious with idiot-in-chief who provoked this buildup with his machotoughtalk.
What an ass.
Ryan S.
If this is true. I find it extremely scarry.
tBone
See, this is what Denny Hastert was talking about. We have to shield the sexual predators here so we can fight the terrorists over there.
BlogReeder
Kim Jong II was feeling left out. Nobody was talking about them.
Richard 23
We can’t talk with members of the axis of evil. Jesus.
Why can’t we just turn them all into glass already?
capelza
Blog Reeder..for just this once..I kind of agree with you :P
Jeff Harrell
The DPRK can promise to FedEx me a piping hot pumpkin pie, too, but I’m not just gonna take their word for it.
The key difference between the DPRK and Iran, of course, is the fact that there’s already an established sphere of influence taking a great interest in the Korean situation. Between the Japanese and the Chinese, there’s a lot of influence at play over yonder.
Central Asia, on the other hand, is one giant power vacuum. Russia lacks the ability to project influence into the Middle East and parts surrounding, and Europe lacks the political will. Leaving Iran the sole superpower candidate in the region, if you discount Israel.
There’s no question, of course, that Israel could reign the Islamic Republic in if they wanted to do so, but their only recourse is military power. The Israelis can’t negotiate with the Iranians because the Iranians stick their fingers in their ears and yell “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA!” over and over again whenever an Israeli starts talking.
So it seems entirely reasonable that we should pay a heck of a lot more attention to Iran than to North Korea.
I’m no scholar, but that’s just the way it seems to me.
Thomas
Well, no one can accuse you of not focusing on the big stories. What’s the ratio, 10 to 1?