Tensions Mount Over North Korean Threat

[allisonthegreat]

Tensions mount over North Korean threat

By HANS GREIMEL
Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Tensions mounted over North Korea's threat to test its first atomic bomb, with shots ringing out Saturday along the border with South Korea and Japan warning of harsh sanctions if Pyongyang goes nuclear.

With a possible test expected as early as Sunday, the U.N. Security Council issued a stern statement Friday urging the country to abandon its nuclear ambitions and warning of unspecified consequences if the isolated, communist regime doesn't comply.

Jittery nations have warned a test would unravel regional security and possibly trigger an arms race.

A midday incursion Saturday by North Korean troops into the southern side of the no-man's-land separating North and South Korea only stoked the unease....
South Korean soldiers rattled off 40 warning shots at the five communist troops who crossed the center line of the Demilitarized Zone, the inter-Korean buffer.

It was unclear whether the North Korean advance was intended as a provocation, or was an attempt to go fishing ...(more)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KOREAS_NUCLEAR?SITE=SCAND&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Ian David]

1. Maybe picking-up a dead-drop from an operative...

or smuggling food into North Korea?

[krispos42]

2. I fully support a North Korean underground nuclear test

Our government won't talk to them, because GOD FORBID we give them ten thousand tons of corn a year in exchange for keeping that plutonium in a non-bomb state. GOD FORBID we give them ten thousand tons of wheat a year to keep those centrifuges off. GOD FORBID we give them ten thousand tons of frozen chickens a year to keep those nuclear research facilities closed.

At least if they detonate the bomb there will be that much less plutonium in their hands.

[Pavulon]

6. are you serious

think about what you are saying outside of the american mindset..

[0007]

7. I think junior and his band of thugs have failed miserably

by not dealing with the situation. I agree with the previous poster.

[krispos42]

11. They already have the damn plutonium

The more of it they detonate on their own territory the less they can fission in Tokyo. And better underground than above ground.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want any nuclear detonations by North Korea. But BushCo screwed up on North Korea, so the less plutonium they have, the better.

[citizen snips]

10. I don't support north korea's nuclear tests

because they could be spending that money on other things like education but with that being said I still believe that US imperialism is to blame for North Korea's nuclear tests.

[daleo]

3. Bush squandered efforts on falsehoods (i.e. Iraq's non-existent WMD)

Meanwhile North Korea probably has 20 atom bombs. They might as well test one, so that the U.S. electorate will see how counter-productive Bush's Iraq ventures really were.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. "possibly trigger an arms race" ? ain't that race already running?

.
.
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The USA revived it with their attack on defenseless Iraq methinks.

Other nations have watched and learned . .

Something the USA seems incapable of

"learning"

[Pavulon]

5. No

we have 3000 mt spinning. That is easily all of n. korea and china in one shot. The race would be between japan, who could go thermo nuclear in a weekend, and n korea.

N korea is shaking the can, hoping someone will toss a buck or two.

[allisonthegreat]

8. They say North Korea is starving....

but Bush's lack of interest is even more alarming.

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. "we have 3000 mt spinning" - what does that mean?

.
.
.

I seriously have no idea what that means

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. N.Korea warns on border shots

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-10-08T174323Z_01_L08141538_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH.xml

N.Korea warns on border shots

Sun Oct 8, 2006 1:43 PM ET

By Jonathan Thatcher

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea issued threats against its southern neighbor over a border incident but made no mention of a planned atomic test as China and Japan expressed joint concern on Sunday over Pyongyang's nuclear intentions.

The reclusive Stalinist state warned of catastrophic consequences if South Korea's military engaged in more "unforgivable military provocation" like a weekend skirmish at the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its soldiers fired warning shots on Saturday at five North Korean soldiers who had climbed over the military demarcation line despite several verbal warnings over loudspeakers.

But the North's KCNA news agency said: "This was an undisguised challenge against us and an unforgivable military provocation. It was only the high patience and self control of our ... soldiers that the incident did not spread to an armed clash on both sides."

KCNA said North Korean soldiers were carrying out normal military duties on its side of the border when South Korean guards fired 60 machine gun shots at them.

"The South's military authorities must not run wildly but instead deliberate on what catastrophic consequences will result from provocative acts at the frontlines where the militaries of both sides stand tensely against one another," it said.

...