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US fears N Korea will have nuclear missile in a year
The United States has told its allies it believes North Korea is developing miniature nuclear weapons small enough to use as missile warheads and could perfect the technology within a year, according to a report yesterday. But analysts questioned the reliability of the claims in the wake of the controversy over intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Usual journalist nattering, all upset about a lack of perfect intelligence, when they themselves can't predict what they'll have for lunch. The US allegations were reported by the New York Times, quoting officials who had seen CIA assessments. According to those assessments, spy satellites had spotted an advanced nuclear testing site near the hub of the country's nuclear programme at Yongbyon. North Korean scientists were alleged to be testing shaped explosives designed to compress a plutonium core and trigger a nuclear blast. "Dear Leader, we must show you wonderous advance in our technology!" "Proceed, knave, even though I know it all already." "Yes, Dear Leader, of course you do. You see, we have these two plutonium blocks, and when we wish to trigger a nuclear explosion, we bring them together ..." "You mean like this?" "NO-O-O-O" {KKKKKKKA-BOOM!!!] If true, the report suggests that Pyongyang is closer than had previously been thought to building a compact nuclear device that could be put on top of its missiles, which are capable of reaching Japan. "This is a more advanced technology than we thought the North Koreans had," said Joseph Cirincione, a nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But he warned that both the CIA and the North Koreans had a vested interest in exaggerating the threat.
The part about the CIA is idiotic. The CIA gets no points for providing the Pres with bad intel when it comes to nuclear weapons. US intelligence officials yesterday said they had no comment on the report, which bolstered the US argument that North Korea is a threat to east Asia, and therefore represents a problem that can only be solved by a coalition of the US, South Korea, China and Japan. According to the New York Times, the intelligence report was passed on to Seoul, Tokyo and other allies. Reports suggest North Korea could be within a year of building a warhead for its missiles, but that was described as "a best guess rather than a solid estimate". The CIA believes that North Korea already has one or two crude nuclear devices predating a 1994 non-proliferation agreement with the US. Last year Pyongyang expelled international nuclear inspectors and took steps to begin reprocessing its store of 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods to produce more plutonium. Between 1,000 and 1,500 rods would provide enough plutonium for one nuclear warhead. It is so far unclear whether reprocessing has begun. US intelligence has picked up no signs of krypton gas, normally released into the atmosphere early in the procedure. However, that gas is not always easy to detect from remote sensors. Some US officials believe North Korean scientists may have run into technical problems restarting the reprocessing plant in January. Scientists were too weak from hunger to push the buttons! Posted by: Steve White 2003-07-02 |
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