"Now what are you gonna do about it?"

[The Emperor Fabulous]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea has admitted having nuclear weapons, sources close to the U.S. talks with North Korea and China told CNN on Thursday.

The country said it would "prove" it has the weapons soon, one source said.

In the past, North Korean officials have privately told U.S. officials that they have a nuclear weapons program, but they did not declare having any nuclear weapons.

A source said Gen. Li Gun, North Korea's representative to the talks in Beijing, China, told U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, "blatantly and boldly" that the country has nuclear weapons and then asked, "Now what are you going to do about it?"

Li said Pyongyang would consider dismantling its nuclear weapons program if the United States signed a written security statement promising not to attack North Korea, according to a source. However, Li said it was not possible to dismantle a nuclear weapon, the source said.

In the past, North Korean officials have privately told U.S. officials that they have a nuclear weapons program, but they did not declare having any weapons.

U.S. officials have accused North Korea of trying to blackmail the United States into making concessions.

White House officials said Thursday they would look into the latest statements from Pyongyang, noting that translations have led to misunderstandings at times.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the talks, scheduled to continue Friday, were "coming to a close" and all sides presented strong views over nuclear concerns.

"The sides will return to their capitals and assess what they heard, analyze proposals that were put down by the parties and determine where they will go next," Powell told the Asia-Pacific Council.

"The one thing that is absolutely clear as a result of this meeting once again is that there is unity within the community that we must not allow the peninsula to become nuclear."

He noted this is the position of "the Chinese government, and of course of the United States, Japan, South Korea and of Russia, Australia and others in the region. North Korea must come to understand this."

In a statement carried Thursday on the North Korean state news agency, Pyongyang said the U.S.-led war in Iraq has shown the only way for a country to protect itself is to have a powerful deterrent.

It said the "master key" to progress was for Washington to make a "bold switchover" in its policy toward North Korea.

The statement, which referred to the Beijing talks, appeared to be a hardening of Pyongyang's long-standing position seeking some kind of security guarantee from the United States before it will talk about dismantling its nuclear program.

"In actuality, the situation on the Korean peninsula is so tense that a war may break out any moment due to the U.S. moves," the statement said.

The United States has said it has no plans to invade North Korea or to resort to any kind of military action.

Nonetheless, officials said their message to North Korea is that it must immediately end production of nuclear weapons and establish an intrusive inspections regime.

The Beijing talks were the first official meetings between the United States and North Korea since October when Washington said North Korean officials admitted to them that they were pursuing an active nuclear weapons program.

North Korea denies any such admission took place and said the United States is using its accusation as an excuse to justify military action. Kelly was the same U.S. official who confronted Pyongyang about its nuclear program in the fall.

the link

Look at the defiance...and there's nothing Washington can do about it.

This is different than what was said months ago...they admitted to an arms program, not having arms themselves.

[SlowwHand]

I started a thread on this, but that's cool.
What can Washington do?
Fight fire with fire.

[DinoDoc]

they admitted to an arms program, not having arms themselves

IIRC, we already knew they had at least one.

[Eli]

"Now what are you gonna do about it?"

Succumb.

[SlowwHand]

Eli. You mean NK? Surely you do.

[PLATO]

To quote Reagan: "The Bombers are in the air".

Seriously, anyone seen any ROK response to this?

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by DinoDoc

Quote:

they admitted to an arms program, not having arms themselves

IIRC, we already knew they had at least one.

Two actually.

[Andrew1999]

I read in one article (sorry, can't remember where) that US intelligence had no idea where the NK nuclear program was apart from Yongbon, particularly where the weapons are being stored. I think it's probably true--if we thought we could completely remove the NK nuclear program with a first strike we'd have done so by now.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Andrew1999
if we thought we could completely remove the NK nuclear program with a first strike we'd have done so by now.

Possible. It wouldn't be a first option though but it would definately be the option would be kept in reserve in any case as a trump against the failure of talks.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Obviously North Korea wants to make it absolutely known that they actually possess nukes, in order to prevent some sort of military action (after seeing the decimation of Iraq in less than a month)

[DanS]

Look at the defiance...and there's nothing Washington can do about it.

Right. But there are a lot of things Washington can decide not to do. Like ship any money Pyongyang's way.

[GePap]

And how does that hurt Pyonyang? Their primary aim is survival, and once the US won't do anything to them, well, they won what they wanted. Besides, the US is far behind SK and China as far as trade and money to NK. Money is not a level we have, that others wield.

[Lord Merciless]

Cut off all economic aids.

Start preparing to invade NK.

[chequita guevara]

This is likely a response from the reports that the US was planning a first strike. Damnit, can't find the sources for this story now.


I would like to point out that the DPRK got its way on talks. The US wanted multilateral talks and the DPRK wanted bilateral. The US media claims victory, because China is hosting the talks and sitting in . . . but China isn't allowed to say anything. Despite the Chinese presence, the talks are bilateral. But since when does the US media let the truth get in the way of hype?

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I wonder if any other country that is on the U.S.' radar will decide to announce that they have nuke weapons in order to stave off an offensive...

Side note

Tass: your quote looks a lot like the second line of gepap's quote...

[DanS]

This is likely a response from the reports that the US was planning a first strike.

You're thinking about a Rummy proposal for a regime change with China's help. It was supposed to have been done non-militarily.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DanS
This is likely a response from the reports that the US was planning a first strike.

You're thinking about a Rummy proposal for a regime change with China's help. It was supposed to have been done non-militarily.

No, an Australian paper leaked a news item a day or so back, but I didn't bookmark it and now I can't figure out where I saw it. It was an actual plan for hitting the suspected sites of the bomb preparation areas. So the DPRK says then, we've got some a-bombs, i.e., don't attack us or cuz we can nuke you or your allies.

I'll see if I can find the source, but right now I'm not holding out any hope.

[uh Clem]

I doubt Shrub is worried; NK doesn't appear to have the range to hit any Red States. Just those West Coast liberals.

BTW, Truman gave serious consideration to first-use of nukes against NK (and China) more than 50 years ago, months before he fired MacArthur. They've lived under the threat of a first strike for decades.

[Drake Tungsten]

Their primary aim is survival, and once the US won't do anything to them, well, they won what they wanted.

If this is true, then why have the North Koreans been blackmailing the US for economic aid all these years? If they were primarily interested in survival, they would've announced their nukes long ago and would never have shut down Yongbyon in the first place.

The North Koreans are building nukes for economic reasons as well as security concerns. If we don't pay them to stop, they'll just sell the technology and maybe the weapons on the black market. That, along with ballistic missile tech, is the only thing the North Koreans really have that is of any value.

I doubt Shrub is worried; NK doesn't appear to have the range to hit any Red States. Just those West Coast liberals.

[Lincoln]

Good deal. I moved from that liberal hell-hole 30 years ago. A nuclear bomb might do that state some good...

[Dr Strangelove]

So how is Kim going to prove that he has a working bomb? Obviously he will have to detonate one. Hopefully Kim will have the smarts to do it underground. Then we'll claim that all our seismographs were off line at the time and ask Kim to repeat the test. He will do so obligingly. Then we'll ask Kim how many bombs he had before starting the tests. He will reply "two". We'll ask him then how many were used in the tests. He'll reply "two". Then we'll ask Kim how many he has left. When the light of realization spreads over his face we'll point out to him that he's no longer in position to bargain.

It could happen.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by GePap
Their primary aim is survival, and once the US won't do anything to them, well, they won what they wanted.

Then this entire game is pointless because thier objective was achieved long ago due to thier being able to reduce Seoul to rubble with thier artillery fairly quickly after an invasion starts. The only reason such an act would be contemplated is in response to DPRK provocation.

[Q Classic]

unfortunately, in a paranoid state such as nkorea, where any action by the us or skorea is taken as a threat (even if one of their soldiers decides to piss on the DMZ)...

nothing will ever convince them otherwise.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
unfortunately, in a paranoid state such as nkorea, where any action by the us or skorea is taken as a threat (even if one of their soldiers decides to piss on the DMZ)...

nothing will ever convince them otherwise.

Perhaps China???

[Q Classic]

china could no more convince that the us has no hostile intentions towards nkorea than bill gates could convince linus torvalds that windows is better.

[Drake Tungsten]

We need to get our troops out of South Korea as soon as possible. There's no need for us to risk a nuclear war defending people that hate America.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
china could no more convince that the us has no hostile intentions towards nkorea than bill gates could convince linus torvalds that windows is better.

I stand corrected!

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
We need to get our troops out of South Korea as soon as possible. There's no need for us to risk a nuclear war defending people that hate America.

Drake: It is my understanding that a sizable percentage of ROK people support our presence. IIRC, however, it was mainly older people.

[Drake Tungsten]

Drake: It is my understanding that a sizable percentage of ROK people support our presence. IIRC, however, it was mainly older people.

While this is true, South Korea still has one of the most anti-American populations in the world; if the figures given on Moneyline today are correct, only Middle Eastern countries and Argentina have a higher percentage of their population that strongly dislikes America. Time is only going to make the attitudes in South Korea worse, as the older, pro-American Koreans die off. We should get out now before the situation gets worse.

[PLATO]

I believe our withdrawal was a topic of Rumsfield's not to long ago. I agree with you. We no longer need the tripwire.