[UPDATE] 10/17/06- No big surprise that North Korea's official statement about resolution 1718 is that they consider it an act of war.
North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test "a declaration of war," as Japan and
South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.
The North broke two days of silence about the U.N. resolution adopted after its Oct. 9 nuclear test with a statement on the official state news agency, as China warned Pyongyang against stoking tensions.
"The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war" against the North, the statement said. North Korea is known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Story here.
Well it seems that the little thug from North Korea is going to push his luck once again and see how badly he can humiliate China a second time.
Breitbart (Hat tip to Stop the ACLU) is reporting as well as AP, AFP, Reuters, Asia Pacific News, hell, just about everybody! South Korea, the US and Japan are all watching closely, yet I believe we all know the little thug of North Korea will perform anther nuclear test. The only question will be when.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said:
Tokyo was working with other unidentified governments on trying to figure out what the North Koreans were up to.
"We are aware that there are various reports. We are closely exchanging information on a constant basis," Shiozaki said. "We should not disclose the content of such exchanges."
Bloomberg.com:
South Korea's government is aware North Korea may be preparing to conduct a second nuclear explosion, after a report said U.S. satellites picked up activity at the site of the country's first test last week.
The South Korean government is aware of the signs of activity, a government official who declined to be identified said today by phone in Seoul when asked about the report from Washington by ABC News.
U.S. spy satellites picked up vehicle movements close to the site of North Korea's nuclear test last week, a sign the country may be preparing a second underground blast, ABC News reported, citing unidentified U.S. intelligence officials.
President Bush's Comments:
As the United States launched a diplomatic drive to shore up the sanctions, President George W. Bush said Kim "is going to have some choices to make."
"I am deeply concerned about the starvation inside of North Korea. I am worried about concentration camps inside of North Korea. I am worried about the human condition inside North Korea," he told Fox News television.
"And we are now making it clear -- not just the United States -- but other nations are making it very clear to North Korea that there is a better way forward. And so, we'll be able to judge his intentions and his motives as time goes on."
Asia Pacific News Reports:
US intelligence is not ruling out the possibility of North Korea conducting another nuclear test. But there isn't any evidence one is imminent," a US intelligence official told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.
Activity detected at suspected North Korean test sites "doesn't necessarily lead one in the direction of another test," he said.
Condi says:
On the eve of departing for a trip to north Asia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she hopes Pyongyang will not conduct a second test.
"We're watching it, obviously, and discussing it with other parties as well," she said.
"I think it goes to say that that would further deepen the isolation of North Korea and I hope they would not take such a provocative act."
Another Hat Tip to Don Surber for this link to "The Australian" reporting that China is ready for a regime change and might just help facilitate it.
"In today's DPRK Government, there are two factions, sinophile and royalist," one Chinese analyst wrote online. "The objective of the sinophiles is reform, Chinese-style, and then to bring down Kim Jong-il's royal family. That's why Kim is against reform. He's not stupid."
More than one Chinese academic agreed that China yearned for an uprising similar to the one that swept away the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 and replaced him with communist reformers and generals. The Chinese made an intense political study of the Romanian revolution and even questioned president Ion Iliescu, who took over, about how it was done and what roles were played by the KGB and by Russia.
Mr Kim, for his part, ordered North Korean leaders to watch videos of the swift and chaotic trial and execution of Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, the vice-prime minister, as a salutary exercise.
The balance of risk between reform and chaos dominated arguments within China's ruling elite. The Chinese have also permitted an astonishing range of vituperative internet comment about an ally with which Beijing maintains a treaty of friendship and co-operation. Academic Wu Jianguo published an article in a Singapore newspaper - available online in China - bluntly saying: "I suggest China should make an end of Kim's Government."
This is not going to be pretty, but someone needs to deal with Jong-il before he sells someone like al-Qaeda a nuclear bomb which by all accounts, would end up in OUR backyard.
My Related Articles: North Korean Baby Killers, China DOES Inspect NK Cargo Despite Words to the Contrary, Deliberately Turning a blind eye, UN Imposes Sanctions, Threats FromNorth Korea [Part #2], Russia and China: The UN's Weak Links, Threats from North Korea [Update #1].
Others posting: Don Surber, Decision `08, Hyscience.
10/17/07-Those posting about the Great Fence of China are: Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View, The Bullwinkle Blog, Red Hot Cuppa Politics.