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 Citing an unnamed South Korean official, VOA news reported on October 12 that North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles that day off the east coast of the communist nation. The official stated that North Korea had warned vessels to avoid its east coast from October 10 to the 20, declaring a "no-sail zone," which is usually an indication that it was planning missile launches. The report, which originated with South Korea's Yonhap news agency, noted that the missiles were surface-to-surface KN-02 rockets with a range of up to 75 miles.
Reacting to the reported North Korean test launches, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said from Northern Island, her latest stop on a European tour: "Our goals remain the same — we intend to work toward a nuclear-free Korean peninsula that can demonstrate in a verifiable way that it is" nuclear free.
"We have made a lot of progress with the other members of the six-party talks who joined us in the very strong sanctions against North Korea and who have been working with us to restart a process there," added Clinton.
Clinton continued: "Our consultation with our partners and allies continues unabated. It is unaffected by the behavior of North Korea."
"We pursue this goal like we pursue all of our national security goals through obstacles, overcoming challenges; a persistent patience that doesn't have any guarantee of outcome," she added, according to AFP news agency. Clinton noted that the current U.S. and allied foreign policy “is a very important way of us building a coalition and creating the space to try to demonstrate clearly to the North Koreans that the international community will not accept their continuing nuclear program.”
According to a Bloomberg News report, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, during an October 5 visit to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, was assured by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that he is willing to resume the disarmament talks.
The North Korean government had stated in an October 1 letter to the United Nations that dismantling its nuclear weapons is “unthinkable even in a dream,” and that it would not disarm unless the United States did so.
North Korea announced in April that it was abandoning the six-nation talks for good after the UN Security Council condemned the country for launching a missile over Japan. North Korea then tested a nuclear weapon on May 25.
BBC news reported that last month North Korea said it was continuing to weaponize its plutonium stocks and was in the final stages of uranium enrichment — which would enable it to build nuclear weapons.
The report noted that North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium to build about six nuclear bombs, but is not thought to have the technology to build them small enough for delivery aboard missiles.
North Korea last test-fired four short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan on July 2, increasing tensions between Pyongyang and the West that began when North Korea launched its Taepodong-2 long-range missile on April 5, a move President Obama called “provocative” and “clear violation” of Security Council Resolution 1718.
Following the April 5 missile launch and North Korea’s May 25 nuclear test, the U.N. Security Council on June 12 unanimously approved stringent new sanctions against North Korea, including a tighter arms embargo and new financial restrictions. The Council also demanded that the DPRK “not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology” and imposed a series of measures on North Korea that include tougher inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned items related to the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities, a tighter arms embargo with the exception of light weapons and new financial restrictions.
President Obama addressed the possibility of a North Korean missile test during an interview with CBS News’s Harry Smith taped on June 19 and broadcast June 22 on “The Early Show.” During the interview, Obama took a rather forceful tone: “What we’re not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation in the way that’s been done in the past.”
Just a few days later, in a statement published by the White House on June 24, President Obama, using emergency powers, extended a set of economic sanctions on North Korea for another year. The order became effective on June 26, the day the previous sanctions issued by former president George W. Bush were due to expire. They will remain in effect for one year.
By issuing Executive Order 13466, the statement said, the president “declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act … to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the current existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula.”
Obama’s action continues restrictions on property dealings ordered by former president Bush. At the same time he issued those sanctions, however, Bush removed North Korea from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, and from the Trading with the Enemy Act, in accord with an agreement reached earlier with North Korea in the nuclear forum that includes South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia.
It is an interesting irony of history that this rogue state that has come under sharp criticism of late from the UN “international community” owes it existence to the UN. Were it not for UN control and deliberate mismanagement of the 1950-53 Korean conflict, the government based in Seoul would no doubt now govern the entire peninsula. It seems that, in order to justify its own existence, the UN must ensure that an adequate supply of outlaw states must be allowed to exist.
Periodically, the UN initiates economic and/or military actions against these incorrigible regimes, and the United States is expected to supply a heavily disproportionate share of men, money, and materiel to put them out of business.
Then, the UN can take credit for maintaining the peace.
It remains to be seen how long this charade can be perpetrated before the UN falls into disfavor with the vast majority of Americans.
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