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North Korea "is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world," the commentary said.
The North's continued defiance presents a new diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North's missile and nuclear programs.
Calls to the U.S. military command in Seoul were not answered Sunday. Also Saturday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships on the high seas under the new sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday as punishment for the North's latest nuclear test.
It is not clear if the statements are simply rhetorical. Still, they are a huge setback for international attempts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions, which received a boost with its second nuclear test on May 25. It first tested a nuclear device in 2006.
In its statement Saturday, North Korea said it has been enriching uranium to provide fuel for its light-water reactor. It was the first public acknowledgment the North is running a secret uranium enrichment program in addition to its known plutonium-based program. The two radioactive materials are key ingredients in making atomic bombs. North Korea said more than one-third of 8,000 spent fuel rods in its possession has been reprocessed and all the plutonium extracted would be used to make atomic bombs. The country could harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium - enough to make at least one nuclear bomb - if all the rods are reprocessed.
In addition, North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its regime. Washington, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention. The new U.N. sanctions are aimed at depriving the North of the financing used to build its rogue nuclear program. The resolution also authorized searches of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit ballistic missile and nuclear materials.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the new U.N. penalties provide the necessary tools to help check North Korea's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. The sanctions show that "North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver those weapons through missiles is not going to be accepted by the neighbors as well as the greater international community," Clinton said Saturday at a news conference in Canada.
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provoking the north korea with sanctions would cause ww3 .And US would be sole responsible for triggering the holocaust.US must know that no more monopoly in nuclear arms,one must remind that still Russia had worlds largest nuclear pile.SO my advice to US dont act as world police. M.VALLAIAH,A.P.
Let's see what Mr. Obama is finally made up of-despite all teh high talk? Does he have the character and courage to look at Pyongyang in the eye and force them to back down or will he turn and run with his tail between his legs? The next few weeks will determine if he is a Great President or is a lame duck from the first year of his "reign".
North Korea has done nothing wrong. The country has all the right to nuclearize itself. Why Israel was allowed secretly to have 300 nukes then? Why America has 10 thousand nukes. This is simply crazy. Either all of us should have nukes or none of us. Why should the world believe US who has already used nukes against others and vowed to do so again, again and again.
Lets not forget, it is the west who gave nukes to Paks, Israel and then goes to Iran, n korea etc. Nukes was developed by the west and hence the blame should go to them. Lets not also forget that most of the weapons use by the terrorist come from US. Therefore US should stop making weapons to stop them from using it.
We may take the threat from North Korea lightly or strongly.But the threat appears real.Now world has enough evidence that N.Korea has some nuclear bomb as well as missiles. Instead of pressuring North with heavy sanctions, we must persuade through other means.whether the period is short or long If the war broke out it will bring untold consequences to the entire world.Sanctions won't help.Because enough sanctions N.Korea has seen.Lets have a possitive approach.
In exchange for missile tech.BTW of course N Korea means what it says about using nukes - there should be no doubt about that.This will never stop, even after they get 50 nukes in the next decades and they will be a real threat to everyone. Result will be Japan will go nuclear, which will make China develop ABM shields, and that means it will spill into Indian interests and we have to again develop more nukes, shields, etc...Best plan is to do (US military) a pre-emptive strike and take away or destroy most of the nukes from N Korea, and then immediately go for regime change, while offering all the leaders luxury retirement in some island nation.This means US will at most have to face small possibility of 1-2 nukes. Else they will surely face real possibility of use of 50 nukes from N Korea within 15 years.