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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N. Korea says it will restart its nuclear reactor |
| 2009-04-14 |
| The stench of weakness wafts 7000 miles west or 9000 miles by prevailing wind currents. North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch. North Korea's swift denunciation of the council's "hostile" move came hours after all 15 members unanimously agreed to condemn the April 5 launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and to tighten sanctions against the regime. ... On Tuesday, the North said it would restart nuclear facilities, an apparent reference to the five-megawatt plutonium-producing reactor and other facilities at Yongbyon. North Korea already is believed to have enough plutonium to produce at least about half a dozen atomic bombs. It also threatened to gird against what it called "hostile acts" by the U.S. and its allies. "We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent to cope with additional military threats by hostile forces," the Foreign Ministry said in the statement carried by state media. Analyst Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, called Pyongyang's move yet another tactic in the regime's bid to get Washington to the negotiating table outside the six-party framework. He said North Korea will watch to see how the U.S. reacts. Another analyst, Prof. Yoo Ho-yeol of Korea University in Seoul, called North Korea's move "strong action" against the U.S. that betrays how upset the regime is by the Security Council statement. But he said Pyongyang will find it difficult to boycott the talks entirely, since that would only serve to further isolate the impoverished country, one of the world's poorest. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #1 That reactor is going to become super brittle with all the start and stops it goes through. More than a stench of weakness will be wafting - more like the stench of isotopes! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-04-14 10:37 |