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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Kimmy to build more nukes |
| 2005-03-17 |
| North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its atomic arsenal in an angry response to upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercises which the communist state denounced as nuclear war games. The North justified its possession of nuclear weapons as establishing a balance of power to prevent a nuclear holocaust, ahead of the joint war games in South Korea starting Saturday. "The exercises will be nuclear war exercises aimed to invade the North to all intents and purposes, in view of their nature, scope and contents," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency. "The DPRK (North Korea) will take necessary counter-measures including the bolstering of its nuclear arsenal to cope with the extremely hostile attempt of the US to bring down the system in the DPRK though it is the Korean people's own choice," he said. "The reality testifies to the fact that the DPRK's nuclear weapons serve as powerful deterrent to keep the equilibrium of forces in the region, avert a new war and ensure peace." The week-long military drills come amid diplomatic efforts to bring Pyongyang back into six-nation talks aimed at persuading it to give up its nuclear weapons program. They coincide with the arrival here Saturday of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a three-nation North East Asia tour to discuss the nuclear standoff. North Korea declared on February 10 it had nuclear weapons and withdrew indefinitely from the disarmament talks due to "hostile" US policy. The Stalinist state has since sent mixed signals on its willingness to return to the talks, with its leader Kim Jong-Il saying Pyongyang would resume dialogue if "conditions" are met. North Korean Premier Pak Pong-ju will visit China from March 22-27 to discuss the nuclear standoff, China's foreign ministry announced Tuesday. Washington believes North Korea possesses one or two crude bombs and may have reprocessed enough plutonium from spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex for half a dozen more. The North says the US-South Korean military drills are a rehearsal for a preemptive nuclear attack while officials in Seoul and Washington have said they are defense-oriented to cement the military alliance. North Korea's state media said Sunday that the exercises could turn into "an actual war" and demanded they be called off. A US naval battle group led by the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier arrived on Monday in Busan, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Seoul, to take part in the exercises. The drills from March 19-25, involve mock battles aimed at evaluating command capabilities with US and South Korean troops mobilized for anti-commando operations and computer war games. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 With the Korean War more than 50 years in the past, it is harder to find South Koreans with family left in the North. More importantly, harder to find anyone outside of South Koreans with family in the North who would be upset if the North sank into the sea. It is the height of arrogance for these cockroaches to imply that anyone would invade their country. There is nothing in North Korea that could compensate for the expense and the headaches associated with keeping the North Korean people alive and trying to reintegrate them into the 21st century. If we had to deal with North Korea, it would be simpler and cheaper just to kill them all and turn the land into a wildlife preserve. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-17 12:23:25 PM |