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July 18, 2004

   Toby Westerman, Editor and Publisher                                                                                   Copyright 2004

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NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR THREAT

July 18, 2004
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2004 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com

The future of the war on terror and the peace of the world received a stunning blow when North Korea defiantly admitted that its nuclear program is military-oriented, as the United States has charged over the years.

North Korea's surprising declaration was revealed by James Kelly, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. representative to the third round of talks, held in Beijing June, 2004. Kelly's statement came during the first public briefing since his return from China. Participants in the conference are North Korea, South Korea, Russia, China, Japan, and the United States.

Washington estimates that North Korean possesses up to six nuclear weapons, and has the missile delivery system to strike the United States.

The United States is hoping that Communist China and Russia will use their influence to induce North Korea to end its development of nuclear weapons and to destroy all nuclear arms already in its possession.

A cruel irony, however, is working against the United States: Russia and China - America's partners in the war on terror - consider North Korea to be a highly valued ally, and provide Pyongyang with high levels of commercial and military support.

Communist China and the "new" Russia have both carefully nurtured the secretive, some would say paranoid, Stalinist regime of North Korea's "Beloved Leader," Kim Jong Il. For at least five years, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has warned of the dangers of Moscow's and Beijing's extensive assistance to Pyongyang.

The CIA's warnings were on target.

Russia has carefully cultivated commercial and military ties with North Korea over recent years. Russian technology is responsible for North Korea's missile technology which enables North Korean nuclear weapons to threaten the continental U.S. North Korea, which periodically issues dire warnings of destruction to the U.S., exports its missile know-how to other nations having a similar hostility to the U.S., including Iran and Syria, and, during the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq.

Communist China retains close military, technology, and trade ties with North Korea. Recent Chinese diplomatic exchanges with North Korea confirm the traditionally close ties between Beijing and Pyongyang, which go back to the Korean War. (Note: The Korean War began in 1950 with a sudden attack by the North into the South. An armistice ended the fighting in 1953, but no peace treaty was signed, and a state of war still technically exists on the Korean peninsula).

Beijing and Moscow have their priorities in their relations with North Korea. In view of past support for Pyongyang's military build-up, including North Korean nuclear capabilities, it appears that Russia and China have distinctly different objectives in their dealings with North Korea than does the United States.

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