North Korea

First there was this news, published by the New York Times:

U.S. sees Atomic Arms Bid in New North Korea Plant "Senior U.S. defense officials said Sunday that the revelation of North Korea's new uranium enrichment facility confirmed long-standing suspicions that the country was seeking a second route to build atomic weapons. They dismissed the North's claim that it was simply trying to build nuclear power plants that it had never been able to obtain from the West.

Asked in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where he was on an official visit, whether he believed the North's story that it was producing only low-enriched uranium that could not be used in nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said told reporters "I don't credit that at all." He argued that the new facility, once it was operating, could enable North Korea to build "a number" of nuclear devices beyond the eight to 12 they are now presumed to have." -more

Then, according to the Sidney Morning Herald (Australia):

North Korean dictator-in-waiting linked to deadly artillery attack
"NORTH KOREA has burnished the leadership credentials of its 26-year-old dictator-in-waiting with a deadly artillery attack on South Korean territory, causing its neighbour to return fire and scramble F-16 fighters.

Two South Korean marines died, and at least 12 were wounded. There were reports of civilian injuries and houses were set ablaze as scores of shells fell on Yeonpyeong island.

A North Korea expert at Beijing's Central Party School, Zhang Liangui, told the Herald that Kim Jong-un was deliberately destabilising the environment in order to mobilise the military and consolidate his power." -more

Posted by BLODOX

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