North Korea

[RottingCorpse]

Would someone please fucking explain to me what North Korea is doing? They launch missles that can't reach the U.S. (yet), then say they'll fuck anybody up who tries to stop them. Is it just saber rattling, or is Kim Jong Il simply the craziest fucking world leader since Napoleon?

[Tatertots]

I'm going with the latter. You saw Team America, right?

Right.

So ronery! So ronery and sadry arone!

[nacho]

If he's like Napoleon, we're all in loads of trouble man.  I mean, "crazy" as in military genius who steamrolled through Europe and revolutionized the way we fight wars to the point where the study of modern history is marked by the end of his reign?

It's saber rattling.  They want us to pay attention to them.  Either in the hopes we try to bribe them with sweets or that we go nuts and attack which will fuck up Asia and destabilize, you know, the world.

[Cassander]

he's acting like any other grandpa once they reach a certain age, only this grandpa happens to be fabulously wealthy and insulated in a military industrial playland of his own making and own several hand-me-down weapons. 

i say this is one of those situations where even the U.N would be like, "you're right, he's a total dick.  If you assassinate him, we'll just look the other way."  Seriously, would anyone care if we just bumped him off?  I don't think France would even mind. 

[RottingCorpse]

UN: Kim, we don't want you  to have nukes.

Kim Jong Il: I HAVE NUKES!

UN: Um, we're going to slap you on the wrist with sanctions.

Kim Jong Il: THIS MEANS WAR!!!!

[Nubbins]

Isn't he like a huge slasher film buff or something?  I hear he's got awesome taste in movies.

[nacho]

Well, RC started this thread in 06...and now there's a thaw.

N. Korea destroys nuclear reactor tower

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Friday destroyed a water cooling tower at a facility where officials acknowledge they extracted plutonium to build nuclear weapons, CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reported from the scene.

The massive implosion, which came at about 5pm local time Friday at the Yongbyon facility, was intended to be a powerful public symbol of a move to end nuclear activities by the Communist nation once branded a member of an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The destruction of the highly visible symbol of North Korea's long-secret nuclear program came just a day after the country released details of its program.

A signal flare gave a three-minute warning as U.S. State Department officials and observers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watched from a reviewing stand.

"The whole thing came tumbling down," Amanpour said.

"This is a very significant disablement step," the U.S. envoy to North Korea, Sung Kim, said.

Nuclear experts say that the plant's destroyed central water-cooling tower would take a year or longer to rebuild if North Korea were to try using the plant again.

"This is a critical piece of equipment for the nuclear reactor," said analyst John Wolfsthal, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has been following North Korea since the 1980s. "Without this facility, the reactor can't operate and can't produce more plutonium for weapons." VideoWatch President Bush claim progress over the N. Korea nuclear issue »

North Korea has been dismantling other parts of the facility under the watchful eyes of representatives of the five other nations, including the U.S., that have been involved in six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

On Thursday, North Korean officials turned over to China a 60-page declaration, written in English, that details several rounds of plutonium production at the Yongbyon plant dating back to 1986.

In it, North Korea acknowledges producing roughly 40 kilograms of enriched plutonium -- enough for about seven nuclear bombs, according to the U.S. State Department.

In response, Bush said he would lift some U.S. sanctions against North Korea and remove the country from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

But he made clear that other sanctions remained in place on North Korea -- which has been on the terrorism list since its alleged involvement in the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner which killed 115 people.

"The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang," Bush said. "We remain deeply concerned about North Korea's human rights abuses, uranium enrichment activities, nuclear testing and proliferation, ballistic missile programs and the threat it continues to pose to South Korea and its neighbors."

U.S. analysts will pore over the document to resolve Washington's outstanding concerns, which include questions about the extent of North Korea's proliferation of nuclear technology and the status of any uranium enrichment program. VideoWatch what's still unknown after Pyongyang's declaration »

Friday's event at the nuclear plant marked at least an effort by North Korea -- dubbed "The Hermit Kingdom" in the international community for its isolationist tendencies -- to show the world a good-faith effort to end its nuclear weapons program.

Media outlets from the five other nations involved in the talks were invited to view the tower's implosion, a rare move in North Korea. CNN was among the media outlets present.

But there appeared to be no mention of the declaration or planned implosion at Yongbyon on the Web site of North Korea's state-run news agency on Thursday. And an article Wednesday noted the 58th anniversary of the Korean war, calling it "a war of aggression started by the U.S. imperialists in an attempt to occupy the whole of Korea."

[fajwat]

fucking awesome.  I can't believe there's been good news, let alone in NK.

[monkey!]

It's nothing more than a distraction whilst they build more elsewhere.

[fajwat]

I said I can't believe it.

Still, I feel it's a positive step no matter how disingenuous NK might be trying to be.

It's a powerful signal, one they can't entirely erase with bad faith.  The world has seen them give in to showing this posture.

[monkey!]

Until they nuke us all into oblivion.

[Reginald McGraw]

How would they go about building a giant cooling tower in secret?  When they did it before, we knew about it...hence the sanctions...which worked to bring them to the table and quit developing weapons-grade plutonium.

[nacho]

And I'm sure that Kim is responding to internal pressure, as well.  That stuff we never really have a grip on... But leaving the Axis of Evil is good for them.  Food and supplies open up again, and there can be some advances made towards vague unity between the two Koreas.

[Disco Dust]

This booze from NK rocks ass....wish you were here NS

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[fajwat]

Looks like acorn moonshine!  What are those nuts?

And where's my chunk of the cooling tower?  I want my souvenir.