North Korea may be preparing for a New Atomic Bomb Test

(CNN) -- North Korea may be preparing for a new atomic bomb test a month after its last test, a U.S. official said Thursday.

This screen grab from North Korean television on April 9 shows leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.

The official, who is not authorized to speak on the record, told CNN that Washington has "indications" that North Korea may be planning another test, which would be its third since 2006. The official would not provide any details, however.

The possible preparations come as the U.N. Security Council debates whether to impose additional sanctions on the communist state in response to its May 25 test of a nuclear device, as well as several subsequent missile tests. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday that North Korea "must pay a price" for its defiance of the international community, which has demanded Pyongyang halt those tests.

In July 2008, U.S., Russian, Chinese, Japanese and South Korean negotiators reached an agreement with North Korea for it to resume the disablement of its nuclear facilities. But the deal has faltered over plans to allow the other parties to verify whether Pyongyang has revealed all of its nuclear secrets.

North Korea has since threatened to restart its nuclear fuel plant at Yongbyon.

Stephen Bosworth, the Obama administration's special representative for North Korea, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that all parties -- including China, long North Korea's major ally -- have agreed to "coordinated steps" to get North Korea to reverse its recent moves away from the six-party agreement.

"On our recent trip, we find that China shared a deep concern about North Korea's recent actions and a strong commitment to achieve denuclearization," Bosworth said. "Our challenge now is to work with China to turn that commitment into effective implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions."

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But Victor Cha, the former Asia director at the U.S. National Security Council, told the committee that additional sanctions could result in a new North Korean test.

"When the Bush administration undertook some of these financial measures, many people argued it led to North Korea's first nucleartest," Cha said. "And the question arises whether these financial measures will then lead North Korea to their third nuclear test. And I don't think we know the answer to that."

Earlier this month, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in a rare television interview, shed some light on who might eventually take over the secretive Communist nation. Kim Jong Nam told TV Asahi, a Japanese television network, in Macau that he does not care about politics or about succeeding his father.

Kim Jong Il is widely reported to have suffered a stroke in August and has been absent from many public functions in recent months. In April, he named his son, Kim Jong Un, and brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek, to the country's powerful National Defense Commission, suggesting his third son may be his heir.

"I hear that news in the media," Kim Jong Nam said. "I think it's true ... however, it is my father's decision. So once he decides, we have to support him."

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Sanctions soon against North Korea

A draft resolution by the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's recent missile launch, and was stated "in the strongest terms" on Wednesday. The recent actions have been condemned in the resolution by the five permanent members of the council, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, and the United States, and also reached the agreement in consultation with Japan and South Korea. Besides the power of the United States that can be displayed here, the big key region player of the big five countries would be China. If China stopped all trade relations with North Korea, even for a short time, there would be grave humanitarian needs amongst the population of North Korea in short time.
Meanwhile, Japan and other countries already started banning food products to North Korea. North Korea understands what the world community is doing. But as reported in an earlier article on this blog, North Korea has just condemned two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor because they illegally crossed into North Korea. The reporters are saying that it was a mistake, but North Korea is taking the illegal crossing very seriously, and have imposed a punishment for such a grave crime in their country.
Does North Korea think that this action of condemning two journalists to prison by them would stop the United States from putting the country back on the terrorist list of countries? Personally, I do not think that they care, but it is my opinion that the next time they launch a missile, they would be put on the terrorist list. They were on the list during President Bush's term, and then Bush took them off of the list within the last year.
Seeing that the North Korean's are being so adamant regarding the missile launchings, the United States must have an alternative plan other than banning imports to North Korea and putting them on a terrorist list. The five permanent members of the council have agreed to also now monitor the water channels for North Korean traffic, and will send these boats to the nearest port to be checked out for any type of nuclear supply. No ships will be allowed to return to North Korea with nuclear supplies.
You are not hearing much from President Obama about North Korea, but my guess is that he is just not sitting down, hoping that North Korea would do the right thing. He most likely has already dispatched nuclear submarines and other ships to monitor the traffic in and out of North Korea. Spy satellites most likely have homed into North Korea to watch every move from the air. U.S. secret service along with other intelligence agencies from around the world are now tuning in to North Korea, and maybe eventually, they will understand the message that they cannot continue on the same path.
It is the opinion of this editor that the U.N. Security Council must come up with a solid offensive and defensive plan if North Korea continues to launch missiles. First, the United States should not think about attacking the country, but they should attack and destroy any missile that are launched from North Korea. Other actions may be an option, but the U.N. Security Council would have to take another vote and decide what the next step would be. The council to this point has openly 'condemned' their actions, but has not stated detailed retaliation for them. If North Korea shoots another missile, I believe that the U.N. Security Council will take a formal action against the North Korean's.
In regards to the 2 female American prisoners, I do not believe that the U.S. would not change the course of the American decision regarding the missiles. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton also believes that the Korean prisoners would not change the course of American involvement concerning the missiles. North Korea will eventually have to pay the penalty for breaking international laws because of launching the nuclear missles. 

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North Korean Launch

In demand for attention, a North Korean missile launch that most countries believe will happen soon, has been one of the main conversations at the G-20 conference amongst nations attending. The payload most likely is a very small satellite. The launch would be in violation of international law, as U.S. resolution 1718 bans the country from a variety of activities which includes the launching of any type of missile.
Out of pride, the country plans to launch this satellite because just recently, the Iranians launched missiles successfully using North Korean technology, something that the North Koreans themselves haven't been able to do.



• U.S. to North Korea: Don't launch your missile
• North Korea: News & Videos about North Korea - CNN.com

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