REPORT: North Korea threatens to launch nuke

[eckogangsta]

NEW YORK — The U.S. vowed not to be intimidated by North Korean threats Tuesday after Pyongyang reportedly said it could fire a nuclear warhead if Washington did not act to resolve the standoff.

"This is the way North Korea typically negotiates by threat and intimidation," John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said. "It's worked for them before. It won't work for them now."

Meanwhile, the White House said the world may never be able to confirm North Korea's claim that it had successfully tested a nuclear weapon on Monday. White House press secretary Tony Snow suggested that the test may not have been nuclear in nature.

"You could have something that is very old and off-the-shelf here, as well, in which case they've dusted off something that is old and dormant," he said. Snow said the intelligence community would continue to assess the explosion.

The latest North Korean threat came in a report by the country's Yonhap news agency. "We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes," it quoted an unidentified North Korean official as saying. "That depends on how the U.S. will act."

The official said the nuclear test was "an expression of our intention to face the United States across the negotiating table."

Beijing's patience with its longtime ally North Korea appeared to be wearing thin as China's U.N. ambassador suggested that some form of Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang are in order.

"I think there has to be some punitive actions, but also I think these actions have to be appropriate," Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

A permanent U.N. Security Council member, China has a decisive say over how stern a punishment the international community can mete out to North Korea.

China's Foreign Ministry also warned Pyongyang that its staging of a nuclear test would harm the two countries' relations.

• CountryWatch: North Korea | South Korea

"The nuclear test will undoubtedly exert a negative impact on our relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.

But Liu added that China is "firmly against" a military strike against the North.

"Taking military action against North Korea would be unimaginable," he said.

A South Korean envoy, returning to Seoul from Beijing, said Tuesday that China appeared to be leaning toward backing strong U.N. measures.

Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, told reporters that the nuclear test would make the possibility of direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang more difficult, Yonhap reported.

The U.N. Security Council was weighing a U.S. proposal for potentially crippling sanctions. America has asked the council to adopt a measure that would aim to curb the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, prohibit all trade in military and luxury goods, and crack down on illegal financial dealings.

There have been worries that the reported nuclear test would prompt Japan to build its own bomb. But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told lawmakers Japan's anti-nuclear policy would remain unchanged.

"There will be no change in our non-nuclear arms principles," Abe said.

Japan's pacifist constitution bars the use of force to settle international disputes, and Japan has maintained a policy of not producing, possessing or using nuclear weapons.

South Korea said that it believed the North had exploded a nuclear device on Monday, but officials claimed that it might take up to two weeks to confirm whether the test was successful.

Although the reported test drew worldwide condemnation and talk of harsh sanctions, the South said it would stick with its efforts to engage the North, though the policy would be reviewed.

Click here to go to FOXNews.com's North Korea Center.

North Korea celebrated a holiday Tuesday marking the 61st anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea. There was no traffic across a key bridge on a border river between China and North Korea.

China canceled leave for its soldiers along the North Korean border and some units were conducting anti-chemical weapons drills, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po reported in Hong Kong. The paper didn't elaborate.

There was no sign of heightened security in the Chinese border city of Dandung, and reporters saw two boatloads of North Korean tourists on the river, smiling and waving to people on the Chinese shore.

Aq

[skyeagle409]

I am very sure that by the time the North Koreans have the means to fire a nuke, this aircraft might be willing to try out its laser. Other parts of an anti-ballistic missile system are already in place and operational.

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/milita...turretview.html

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/abl/abl7.html

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/milita...021114_018.html

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/ai...wed_041117.html

Edited October 11, 2006 by skyeagle409

[__Kratos__]

How do you suppose N. Korea even got the missile technology? Their nuclear test wasn't even a right as only part of the material was set off. It's just another somewhat shortfall by the midget up top in military hardware this year.

[Mars]

May be the smartest thing to do is nuke North Korea

[shikon1]

This guy really is crazy. We could shoot down the nuke, I don't know if the radiation would spread more since it would be blown up pretty high, then make South Korea an island nation.

Edited October 11, 2006 by shikon1

[Michelle]

Why is he laying all this on the doorstep of Washington...hoping they'll screw up so he can blame everything on us?

[Col. Kurtz]

May be the smartest thing to do is nuke North Korea

I like the way you think Mr.

[Lord Umbarger]

They keep babbling about shooting amissle at the U.S. but, I think that they are more likely to just sneak one into a harbor somewhere and detonate it there.

Time will tell.

[I am me]

May be the smartest thing to do is nuke North Korea

Sure, because setting one of those off is such a great thing.

They keep babbling about shooting amissle at the U.S. but, I think that they are more likely to just sneak one into a harbor somewhere and detonate it there.

Time will tell.

But then you have to ask yourself, why would they do it in the first place?

[Lord Umbarger]

Because thier leader is EVIL! Hmm? Yeah, that sounds right. Try saying it yourself a time or two. Maybe you should even read a little about some of the stuff this nut job has done to his own people.

[Moon Monkey]

How do you suppose N. Korea even got the missile technology? Their nuclear test wasn't even a right as only part of the material was set off. It's just another somewhat shortfall by the midget up top in military hardware this year.

Didn't their last missile test go tits-up? They rattle the sabre every so often and the Yanks send them food. Maybe this time let them starve.

[Watzel]

Let's all stop and think about something. Kim's country is starving. Instead of doing what he can to help his people he threatens the US; trying to get the US to give him everything he wants for himself.

All of this conflict is being caused because Kim is not getting what he wants for himself only.

The US should tell him that what problems he has are his own making and the US is not responsible for what he needs or wants. It is also not the USA's business to feed the tyrants of the world.

Then if and when he tries to nuke someone we kill him; not anyone else in N.K but just Kim.

[__Kratos__]

Didn't their last missile test go tits-up? They rattle the sabre every so often and the Yanks send them food. Maybe this time let them starve.

Yep. Also to get the nuclear cone to get on the missile play a missile good enough to carry that payload is going to take lots of cash, man power and time. So maybe in 30 or 40 years.

We should let them starve and stop giving them fuel as well. It just went all towards the military of NK to help fund this.

[NiCkC818]

North Korea will not hit the U.S. with a nuke and I'll tell you why. First and foremost, they can't deliver one here. Second, Kim Jong ill is scared of us and we are scared of him. He is afraid of death like everyone else. I have to say, if I was President and I'm glad I'm not, I would disenegrate North Korea.

[Shinedown]

Bomb North and get it over with... down with North Korea.

Edited October 11, 2006 by Shinedown

[ASOP]

What dose he want for him self? Hair spray? That poof hair do has got to go.

[ROGER]

Well I hope the U.S. and every one else doesnt give in to N. Korea's wants. We as a nation have done this in the past with other countries , and now they HATE us for interfering in their business.

It's kind of like Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip , then complaining because their "Welfare Checks " didn't come in!

[Col. Kurtz]

Maybe we should use an earlier type nuke on them then flood the world news with bogus reports about how it was their own nuke that misfired and detonated on the test site.

[Roj47]

Why not sell them fake plutonium? Or better still........ exploding candy.

[truthorder]

Lost in all of this is something Kim Jong Il still hasn't answered up to yet.

He is the biggest counterfeiter of American currency in the world and it has cost the U.S. economy untold billions of dollars. There is a lot of speculation that the money that was found in Saddam's banks was counterfeit and came directly from Kim's operation.

He's not just trying to threaten us militarily. He's been trying to ruin our economy for years now.

[ohio tsunami]

I would like to know where N. Korea got the capability to build any kind of nuclear weapon. I know that if you have the money, you can get about anything. But, if I were them I would seriously consider not bragging about who they are going to shoot the first missle at. If you want to shoot a nuclear missle at the nation with the most advanced military on Earth you better not be using 50 year old technology.