SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Wednesday that it would start a uranium enrichment program, declaring for the first time that it intended to pursue a second project unless the United Nations lifted sanctions. Calling the United Nations Security Council "a tool for the U.S. highhanded and arbitrary practices," North Korea also threatened to conduct nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
| But since it's the New York Times you may relax, because the NYT is going to throw enough sand in your eyes to make you worry more about Michelle's biceps ... |
It would take North Korea months to prepare a nuclear or ballistic missile test, and some Western intelligence agencies suspect that it has already been pursuing a covert uranium-based nuclear program in parallel to its known plutonium-based program. New nuclear tests would use up some of North Korea's fissile material, but give it more information to improve its technology, as would new missile tests.
By making public threats, the North used a familiar tactic to raise the stakes in its standoff with Washington. Analysts say the country needs outside aid to feed its own people and outside enemies to justify its harsh rule. Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, when North Korea lost most of its trade partners and aid providers, the impoverished country has used threats as a survival tactic. (When the United States and South Korea provide the North with aid, the government internally tells its people that the "enemies come groveling with tributes.")
| See, it's just business as usual, no need to be alarmed. |
North Korea's nuclear program remains its main, and perhaps only, attention-gathering tool and bargaining chip, and it has repeatedly wrested more aid from its threats, and even new bouts of engagement with Washington.| They're just children you see, seeking attention and not really serious about annihilating their enemies ... |
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