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North Korea 'preparing for two nuclear tests'

key2thecup

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North Korea 'earthquake' amid nuclear test fears

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North Korea, led by Kim Jong-un, announced plans for a nuclear test last month

Seismic activity has been detected in North Korea, several nations say, in what could be a sign of a widely-anticipated nuclear test. The US Geological Survey said it had detected a tremor with a 4.9 magnitude. South Korean media also reported a "man-made earthquake" in its northern neighbour.

North Korea said last month it was planning to carry out its third nuclear test - despite a threat from the UN Security Council of "consequences". The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 1km. It put the epicentre close to North Korea's known nuclear test site in the northeast of the country. China's Earthquake Administration described it as a "suspected explosion", AFP reported. Japan's Meteorological Agency said the tremor was "different from a normal earthquake".

"We believe that there is a possibility that North Korea carried out a nuclear test, looking at past cases," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Yonhap news agency says South Korea has raised its military alert in response to the quake. Japan says it will hold a meeting of its national security council, public broadcaster NHK reported.

North Korea is not prone to seismic activity. It conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, each time after rocket launches condemned by the UN as disguised tests of long-range missile technology. It announced in January that it planned to conduct a "high-level" nuclear test, in response to expanded UN sanctions imposed after its latest rocket launch on 12 December 2012.

That rocket launch successfully put a satellite into orbit, in an apparent breakthrough for the North. There has been no word yet from North Korea on what has taken place.

The US, South Korea and Japan had all warned Pyongyang not to go ahead with a third nuclear test. China, North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner, had also called for restraint.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-asia-21421841

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key2thecup

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North Korea tells China of preparations for fresh nuclear test - source

China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message.

Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of government in both Beijing and Pyongyang.

North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing global condemnation and a stern warning from the United States that it was a threat and a provocation.

"It's all ready. A fourth and fifth nuclear test and a rocket launch could be conducted soon, possibly this year," the source said, adding that the fourth nuclear test would be much larger than the third, at an equivalent of 10 kilotons of TNT.

The tests will be undertaken, the source said, unless Washington holds talks with North Korea and abandons its policy of what Pyongyang sees as attempts at regime change.

North Korea also reiterated its long-standing desire for the United States to sign a final peace agreement with it and establish diplomatic relations, he said. North Korea remains technically at war with both the United States and South Korea after the Korean war ended in 1953 with a truce.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged North Korea to "refrain from additional provocative actions that would violate its international obligations" under three different sets of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea "is not going to achieve anything in terms of the health, welfare, safety, future of its own people by these kinds of continued provocative actions. It's just going to lead to more isolation," Nuland told reporters.

The Pentagon also weighed in, calling North Korea's missile and nuclear programs "a threat to U.S. national security and to international peace and security."

"The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region," said Pentagon spokeswoman Major Catherine Wilkinson.

Initial estimates of this week's test from South Korea's military put its yield at the equivalent of 6-7 kilotons, although a final assessment of yield and what material was used in the explosion may be weeks away.

North Korea's latest test, its third since 2006, prompted warnings from Washington and others that more sanctions would be imposed on the isolated state. The U.N. Security Council has only just tightened sanctions on Pyongyang after it launched a long-range rocket in December.

Pyongyang is banned under U.N. sanctions from developing missile or nuclear technology after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.

North Korea worked to ready its nuclear test site, about 100 km (60 miles) from its border with China, throughout last year, according to commercially available satellite imagery. The images show that it may have already prepared for at least one more test, beyond Tuesday's subterranean explosion.

"Based on satellite imagery that showed there were the same activities in two tunnels, they have one tunnel left after the latest test," said Kune Y. Suh, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University in South Korea.

Analysis of satellite imagery released on Friday by specialist North Korea website 38North showed activity at a rocket site that appeared to indicate it was being prepared for a launch (here).

NORTH 'NOT AFRAID' OF SANCTIONS

President Barack Obama pledged after this week's nuclear test "to lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats" and diplomats at the U.N. Security Council have already started discussing potential new sanctions.

North Korea has said the test was a reaction to "U.S. hostility" following its December rocket launch. Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at developing technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"(North) Korea is not afraid of (further) sanctions," the source said. "It is confident agricultural and economic reforms will boost grain harvests this year, reducing its food reliance on China."

North Korea's isolated and small economy has few links with the outside world apart from China, its major trading partner and sole influential diplomatic ally.

China signed up for international sanctions against North Korea after the 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests and for a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in January to condemn the latest rocket launch. However, Beijing has stopped short of abandoning all support for Pyongyang.

Sanctions have so far not discouraged North Korea from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

"It is like watching the same movie over and over again," said Lee Woo-young, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. "The idea that stronger sanctions make North Korea stop developing nuclear programs isn't effective in my view."

The source with ties to Beijing and Pyongyang said China would again support U.N. sanctions. He declined to comment on what level of sanctions Beijing would be willing to endorse.

"When China supported U.N. sanctions ... (North) Korea angrily called China a puppet of the United States," he said. "There will be new sanctions which will be harsh. China is likely to agree to it," he said, without elaborating.

He said however that Beijing would not cut food and fuel supplies to North Korea, a measure it reportedly took after a previous nuclear test.

He said North Korea's actions were a distraction for China's leadership, which was concerned that the escalations could inflame public opinion in China and hasten military build-ups in the region.

The source said he saw little room for compromise under North Korea's youthful new leader, Kim Jong-un. The third Kim to rule North Korea is just 30 years old and took over from his father in December 2011.

He appears to have followed his father, Kim Jong-il, in the "military first" strategy that has pushed North Korea ever closer to a workable nuclear missile at the expense of economic development.

"He is much tougher than his father," the source said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-korea-north-nuclear-idUSBRE91E0J820130215

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key2thecup Canucks Regular

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North Korea says it will launch nuclear attack on America

NORTH Korea led by tyrant Kim Jong-un has sensationally vowed to launch a NUCLEAR attack on the USA.

The provocative statement comes weeks after the country conducted underground nuclear tests which caused a massive earthquake.

America’s west coast cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco are feared to be in Kim’s sights.

A foreign ministry spokesman said: "Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to pre-emptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest."

The UN today has voted to implement its toughest restrictions yet on North Korea in a bid to halt its nuclear ambitions.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "The international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons."

Korea_1686825a.jpg

Blast off ... North Korea tested missile last year

The threat from North Korea was followed by a chilling new propaganda film via its official Youtube channel.

The warped film shows the might of the North Korean military. The footage shows missiles being fired and dramatic military parades.

A convoy of North Korean missiles on trucks is also seen rolling through Pyongyang.

The UN sanctions imposed today include a list of luxury items the country's rulers will be banned from importing.

"These sanctions will bite and bite hard,” said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

She added: "North Korea will achieve nothing by continued threats and provocations. These will only further isolate the country and its people and undermine international efforts to promote peace and stability in northeast Asia."

The nuke warning from North Korea was put out by the country's official news agency and accused the US of leading the calls for the crippling sanctions.

However experts doubt the country's ability to produce a warhead capable of being fitted to a long-range missile.

On Tuesday North Korea threatend to scrap the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war with South Korea.

And it criticised military exercises between the US and South Korea. Pyongyang said it was shutting off a military hotline with the US and South Korea.

North Korea's KCNA agency quoting a military source said: "We will completely nullify the Korean armistice".

Last month the world was put on high alert when North Korea carried out its biggest nuclear blast yet.

The giant underground explosion caused an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9.

The banned blast - which took place in the remote, snowy, north-east of the country - drew global outrage, even from Pyongyang's only major ally China.

The actual device was thought to be smaller than those in two earlier tests — raising fears that the crackpot Communist state is close to its aim of perfecting a missile capable of hitting its number one enemy the US.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the explosion, as an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council began drawing up "fresh measures" to punish the rogue country.

In Britain, Foreign Secretary William Hague threatened boy dictator Kim Jong-Un with more "isolation".

In February North Korea poached Michael Jackson's peace anthem We Are the World to soundtrack a chilling video showing a US city under missile attack.

The bizarre footage was uploaded on the secretive state's official webpage.

The propaganda movie depicts a smiling lad dreaming of a regime rocket being launched into the air and travelling to America.

The three-and-a-half minute vid then showed a mystery city full of skyscrapers being attacked with multiple explosions, while the Stars and Stripes flag flutters in the background.

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