North Korea's Nuclear Testing

North Korea's Nuclear Testing

Background and discussion about North Korea's nuclear testing. United States intelligence analysts have determined that the strength of the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea on Oct 9th, 2006 was less than one kiloton, extremely small...

Background and discussion about North Korea's nuclear testing. United States intelligence analysts have determined that the strength of the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea on Oct 9th, 2006 was less than one kiloton, extremely small for a nuclear explosion. But the major political fear is that N. Korea's nuclear ambition and testing will spark an arms race in the region.

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From:   www.afp.com
North Korea Monday warned South Korean ships to avoid the disputed Yellow Sea border area where a clash broke out last month, saying its coastal artillery would target the area in firing exercises. The communist state's naval command, in a statement on official media, said the move came in response to "reckless military provocations" from the South. Tensions have remained high off the west coast since a brief but intense gunfight on November 10 left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. There were deadly naval gunbattles there in 1999 and 2002. The North refuses to accept the border known as the Northern Limit ... Read Full Story
From:   www.afp.com
US envoy Stephen Bosworth said Wednesday that he urged North Korea during his trip to Pyongyang last week to refrain from any more nuclear arms tests. Briefing reporters in Washington, Bosworth also said the North Koreans had "agreed the subject of a uranium enrichment program is now on the agenda," whenever disarmament talks resume with international powers. The US envoy's groundbreaking visit to North Korea from December 8 to 10 was the first direct contact between Washington and Pyongyang under President Barack Obama's tenure, but no date was set for resuming the six-party talks. North Korea said in September that it had reached the ... Read Full Story
From:   www.afp.com
Former Japan coach Philippe Troussier has been offered a job to guide North Korea at next year's World Cup finals in South Africa, a press report said Thursday. The Frenchman, who led Japan to the last 16 in the 2002 World Cup on home turf, said he will take a positive attitude toward the offer but that "everything is unofficial", the Nikkan Sports daily reported. "They (the North Koreans) made contact with me. But I cannot comment on it because nothing has been completed yet," Troussier was quoted as saying. Troussier, now the general manager of Japan's third division side FC Ryukyu, had been ... Read Full Story
Written by tusharm on
North Korea’s west coast, observed from South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in disputed waters in the Yellow Sea. N. Korea Capable Of Miniaturizing Nuclear Warheads: Source — Yonhap News SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s state-run defense think tank has concluded that North Korea is capable of achieving the technology needed to miniaturize its nuclear warheads, an informed military source said Sunday. In its report on 2009 military trends in Northeast Asia scheduled to be published next month, the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA) concluded that the North at the moment does not have the technology to fit a nuclear weapon on a ... Read Full Story
From:   www.afp.com
US envoy Stephen Bosworth voiced concerns during his visit to North Korea last week about the country's uranium enrichment programme, a South Korean ruling party official said Tuesday. South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-Lac told lawmakers that the US envoy had raised concerns about the enrichment programme at talks with North Korean officials, a Grand National Party (GNP) official told AFP. Wi's comments were made as he briefed GNP lawmakers on his meeting with Bosworth, the official said on condition of anonymity. Wi, however, told the lawmakers there were no formal discussions between Bosworth and North Korean authorities over the issue, the official ... Read Full Story
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An anti-North Korea rally in Seoul

An anti-North Korea rally in Seoul

Linked from: cnn.com

WASHINGTON(AP)—U. S. business executives say they told North Korean leaders during a visit to Pyongyang last week that they must give up their nuclear ambitions if they want foreign investment in the isolated country. The rare unofficial trip by ...  
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(Moscow) -- The U.S. envoy for North Korea ended a trip to the isolated communist country with no timeline to restart nuclear talks. Stephen Bosworth spoke to reporters in Moscow after also visiting several Asian powers to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear ...  
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North Korea will eventually be able to make a nuclear warhead small enough to fit in a missile, a news report said Sunday. Seoul's Yonhap news agency, citing the state-run Korea Institute for Defence Analyses (KIDA), said Pyongyang developing the technology to achieve miniaturisation was inevitable. "It is believed that North Korea has not completed the technology for the miniaturisation... of nuclear warheads," KIDA said in a report to be...  
From freerepublic.com ()
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Seoul - South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak urged China Thursday to take a more prominent role in finding a solution for the international dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. "I think next year will be an important juncture in ...  
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Editable by Any Member
Important dates in North Korea's nuclear ambitions:

This note is a work in progress.  Did we miss an important date?  Edit the note and add one.
 

1993 To the world’s surprise, North Korea says it will withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It later suspends its withdrawal.
 
DEC. 1993 The Central Intelligence Agency tells President Clinton that North Korea probably has developed one or two nuclear bombs.
 
OCT. 1994 North Korea and the United States sign an agreement in Geneva in which the North pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program, in exchange for help building two power-producing nuclear reactors.
 
SEPT. 1999 President Clinton agrees to the first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War in 1953.
 
MARCH 1999 North Korea agrees to allow the United States to inspect a huge underground site that Washington suspects is the beginning of a renewed North Korean effort to build atomic weapons.
 
JULY 2000 North Korea threatens to restart its nuclear program if Washington does not compensate it for delays in building the promised civilian nuclear power plants.
 
JULY 2001 The State Department reports that North Korea is developing a long-range missile.
 
DEC. 2001 President Bush warns that Iraq and North Korea will be held accountable if they develop weapons of mass destruction.
 
JAN. 2002 President Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an “axis of evil.”
 
OCT. 2002 North Korea tells visiting American delegation that it has a second covert nuclear weapons program, according to American officials.
 
NOV. 2002 The United States, Japan and South Korea halt oil supplies to the North that were promised in the 1994 agreement.
 
DEC. 2002 North Korea starts to reopen a sealed plutonium reprocessing plant.
 
JAN. 2003 North Korea says again that it will withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
 
FEB. 2003 North Korea restarted a reactor at its primary nuclear complex, American intelligence officials announce.
 
APRIL 2003 North Korea says it has nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them depending on the actions of the United States, American officials say.
 
AUG. 2003 Talks to seek a resolution of nuclear tensions in Korea convene in Beijing. China, Russia, Japan, the United States and the two Koreas take part. These six-nation talks convene again in February and June 2004.
 
FEB. 10, 2005 North Korea announces again that it has nuclear weapons.
 
MAY 15, 2005 The Bush administration on Sunday warned North Korea for the first time that if it conducted a nuclear test, the United States and several Pacific powers would take punitive action
 
JULY 26, 2005 The six-nation talks convene for a fourth round, but are recessed with no agreement after 13 days.
 
SEPT. 13 The recess ends and talks resume.
 
SEPT. 15, 2006 The United States blacklists a Macau-based bank and accuses it of involvement in illicit activity by North Korea, includingmoney laundering and counterfeiting. The bank freezes North Korean assets it holds.
 
SEPT. 19, 2006 The six-nation talks conclude with an agreement in which North Korea pledges to dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for energy assistance; the United States promises not to invade the North and to respect North’s sovereignty.
 
NOV. 9, 2006 A fifth round of six-nation talks convenes for two days.
 
JAN. 3, 2006 North Korea says it will no longer take part in the six-nation talks unless the United States lifts the financial restrictions it imposed on North Korea over allegations of currency counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
 
JULY 5, 2006 North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, including a new Taepodong-2 model that is designed for long range but explodes soon after launch. Other nations condemn the tests, and the U.N. Security Council later passes a resolution condemning them.
 
SEPT. 26, 2006 North Korea rejects further talks on its nuclear program, and accuses the United States of wanting to rule the world.
 
OCT. 3, 2006 North Korea says it will conduct a nuclear test in the face of what it called “the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war.”
 
OCT. 9, 2006 North Korea says it has tested a nuclear weapon successfully. Neighboring nations react with alarm and condemnation.
 
This note originally inpired by a New York Times timeline, found here.
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