Not this sh*t again: North Korea kicks out nuclear inspectors. US invades in 3... 2

[Terminator]

SEOUL -- North Korea said it has abandoned aid-for-disarmament talks and ordered international monitors out of the country, leaving the U.S. and others to figure out a new way to deal with Pyongyang's pursuit of dangerous weapons.
Coming on the heels of North Korea's latest weapons-related test -- the April 5 firing of a missile-like rocket -- the moves show that Pyongyang can resist international pressure despite its poverty.
North Korea ordered International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out of the country, ending global monitoring of a research reactor at Yongbyon and in theory allowing reprocessing of fuel rods to make plutonium.
The five other nations in the disarmament talks -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. -- must decide whether to try to restart the process or take a new approach to the North.
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called North Korea's threat to withdraw from the talks and restart its nuclear program "a serious step in the wrong direction."
"North Korea will not find acceptance by the international community unless it verifiably abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said. The other countries issued statements calling for North Korea to return to the process.
An IAEA spokesman said in a statement that North Korea informed IAEA inspectors at Yongbyon that it will immediately cease cooperation with the IAEA and asked the agency to remove its surveillance equipment. North Korea announced a plan to reactivate all its nuclear facilities and resume reprocessing nuclear fuel, the IAEA statement said. The IAEA inspectors were asked to leave North Korea at the earliest possible time.
The on-again, off-again inspections at the five-megawatt Experimental Nuclear Reactor Plant and the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant at Yongbyon resumed in October, soon after the U.S. announced it would remove North Korea from the State Department list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
North Korea and the IAEA have started and stopped inspections several times since early 2007, in tandem with progress and setbacks in diplomatic talks. Pyongyang's withdrawal from the talks could increase the threat of weapons proliferation around the world, officials of the U.S. and some Middle Eastern countries said.
These officials said that even while talks between the global community and Pyongyang were active in recent years, American and Asian intelligence services tracked North Korean attempts to sell long-range missile parts and weapons of mass destruction to Iran and Syria. The fear now is that North Korea, in need of hard currency, could seek to expand its weapons business.
"We've known for years that the North Koreans are involved in every phase of missile development among the countries in the Middle East. All of them," said a senior Israeli official working on proliferation issues.
Despite these proliferation threats, U.S. officials say they are continuing to work with Asian allies to resume six-party negotiations with North Korea.
Just getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table will likely mean that the other countries will first have to agree to some new demand, analysts said. Over the past two decades, diplomats have tried numerous and varied tactics to halt North Korea's pursuit of advanced weapons.
North Korea announced it was quitting the talks just hours after the United Nations Security Council criticized the rocket launch with a statement. That penalty carries less diplomatic weight than resolutions the council passed after North Korea separately tested a long-range missile and a nuclear device in 2006.
North Korea's foreign ministry called the latest U.N. move an "unbearable insult." Before the U.N. action, North Korea warned it would leave the talks if the council approved any penalty. Afterward, the North's foreign ministry said, "We will never again take part in such talks and will not be bound by any agreement reached at the talks."

[Retdetsgt]

We're not going to invade. Not until he actually attacks Japan or someone else. Bush didn't want to and Obama sure isn't going to.

[121Traffic]

But....but....Obama says the answer to this type of situation is to get rid of our nukes first, right??

[Retdetsgt]

But....but....Obama says the answer to this type of situation is to get rid of our nukes first, right??

Gawd, I wish you weren't so right about him....

[Captain America]

Let France , Germany and Spain enforce UN policy.

[TXCharlie]

But....but....Obama says the answer to this type of situation is to get rid of our nukes first, right??

Not quite... Phase I of that is to get rid of all of our missile defense programs that might be able to repel a Korean attack.

That will put us in a stronger diplomatic position in the UN, after Hawaii or Los Angeles have mushroom clouds over them - See? Obama's plan makes sense after all, once you have all the information

[Xiphos]

All we'll get out of the Obama Admin is hand wringing and empty threats.

[TXCharlie]

All we'll get out of the Obama Admin is hand wringing and empty threats.

I think "empty threats" would be too much to expect from him.

Appoligies for past empty threats made by George Bush would be my highest expectation of Obama.

[MacLean]

We're not going to invade. Not until he actually attacks Japan or someone else. Bush didn't want to and Obama sure isn't going to.

If he fucks it up, we won't be invading - they will.

If you know who stands the line, well - it will be very unpleasant for them.

[Retdetsgt]

If he fucks it up, we won't be invading - they will.

If you know who stands the line, well - it will be very unpleasant for them.

If Bush wouldn't do anything about him, Obama sure as hell won't.

N. Korea would be a bitch to invade. My oldest brother was in the Korean war, a veteran of the Chosan Reservoir. He's told me that N. Korea is full of mountains. The terrain is a bitch to fight in. If we could nuke it, fine. But that ain't gonna happen.

[121Traffic]

RDS, I think what Mac meant is that if we fuck it up, we're not doing the invading, but rather North will move South.

[Captain America]

RDS, I think what Mac meant is that if we fuck it up, we're not doing the invading, but rather North will move South.

.....and guess who is on the wall in the demilitarized zone. President Obama would get plenty of opportunities to make command decisions in that event. Just can't figure if Mac meant it would be very unpleasant for the North Koreans or us. I would wager both. Mac has been very cryptic in his post lately.

[Retdetsgt]

RDS, I think what Mac meant is that if we fuck it up, we're not doing the invading, but rather North will move South.

I think so too. The North will have to make the first move. With Russia and China standing behind them, we don't dare take the first step. China is liable to foreclose on our treasury.

[MacLean]

Sorry to be cryptic. I have friends who hold the line in the sand at Kunsan and Osan.

What we are dealing with is a whole lot of very hungry and very pissed off North Koreans, who are kept fed just well enough to hold a gun and run, while the rest of the country gets by on what aid from the world that is not diverted to the military.

If backed into a corner, Kim has no choice but to fight or lose everything he has. These people have been fed bullshit their entire life, their media is controlled, and they actually believe half the "god like" shit that is pounded into their brains.

Our best hope is that one of their generals is rational and shoots Kim before such a thing happens.

Artillery (on both sides), air power (on our side), and the sheer numbers of combat troops would prove such a thing to be one of the greatest loss of lives in combat the world has ever seen.

We would do well to consider tactical use of nuclear weapons, for many of the same reasons we used them on Japan. To win would be entirely too costly, and to lose is not allowed.

[Captain America]

Sorry to be cryptic. I have friends who hold the line in the sand at Kunsan and Osan.

No need to apologize, Mac. I like mysteries(YADVH). May the Good Lord look after your friends in harms way.

[Retdetsgt]

The problem is the military is well fed and well treated. They have little reason to do away with Kim. The others are so intimidated and tromped on, there is nothing they can do. The sad thing is that the aid we send is used almost entirely to keep up his military. We keep giving him the means to do this shit.

I totally agree that a tactical nuke is what is needed, but given the world political climate and our own "fearless leader", I can't see it happening. They'd all prefer to let millions of soldiers die.

My best friend served on the parallel too in the mid 60's. He has some interesting stories and I doubt little has changed.

[MacLean]

The problem is the military is well fed and well treated.

I would say the current intelligence is "better fed and better treated."

Well fed doesn't seem to apply any more. Aid shipments have fallen off as the economy has tanked around the world.

They have little reason to do away with Kim.

Until he orders them to their death, which he will do if he thinks he has to - or until the food dries up more.

My best friend served on the parallel too in the mid 60's. He has some interesting stories and I doubt little has changed.

Probably not - with the exception of his escalating nuclear ambition.

Things are getting dire for him now though.

He can't lose face.

[Captain America]

He can't lose face.

True. I think will all know how dangerous a cornered psychopath is........