WILL NORTH KOREA CROSS THE RED LINE?
November 15, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
It is interesting to read the November 13, 2007 Article which follows, and then to compare it with the November 23, 2005 Blog which appears after it.
BEGIN DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE + ASSOCIATED PRESS
NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREAT
DPRK aid to Syria could start fire in Middle East
The Yomiuri Shimbun
November 13, 2007
More than a year has passed since North Korea’s nuclear test. Work to disable some of the country’s nuclear facilities has finally begun, but it is unclear whether North Korea will abandon all of its nuclear development programs. Starting today, part five of our “North Korea’s Nuclear Threat” series will focus on threats facing Japan and future tasks for the nation’s security policy.
Before dawn on Sept. 6, Israeli Air Force the F-15 fighters secretly flew over the Syrian desert about 145 kilometers from the border with Iraq.
Following coordinates from a guidance system set up on the ground by an Israeli commando unit known as Shaldag that had infiltrated the area, missiles from F-15s locked onto and destroyed a building east of the Euphrates River.
The covert mission was reported by U.S. and British media.
Though Israel has not disclosed details of the raid, the destroyed 47-meter by 47-meter building likely was a nuclear facility built with cooperation from North Korea.
According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a private U.S. institution, the facility possibly accommodated a 20,000-kilowatt to 25,000-kilowatt nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.
During a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, M
aj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi Farkash, former chief of the Israeli Military Intelligence, pointed to a satellite photo of the building taken before the raid that was released by ISIS in October.
The building closely resembled a nuclear facility in Yongbyong, North Korea, he said.
Although North Korea and Syria have dismissed reports they might be cooperating on a nuclear facility, suspicions that they might have some “nuclear connection” are growing.
In October, Workers’ Party of Korea Secretary Choe Thae Bok, visited Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad. The meeting, at which they discussed cooperation on nuclear programs, suggests ties between Pyongyang and Damascus have become cozy in recent times.
Israel has not officially confirmed that it possesses nuclear weapons, but the country is the sole nuclear power in the Middle East and is believed to have 100 to 200 nuclear warheads. Moves by other countries in the region to acquire nuclear programs can be a life-or-death matter for Israel.
Zeevi Farkash said North Korea sold missiles to Egypt, Libya and Syria. He quoted Israeli military intelligence reports saying some North Korean engineers sent to Syria since 2000 had engaged in nuclear-related work.
He also revealed that Israel had been keeping a watchful eye on North Korea’s transference of nuclear development technologies to the Middle East for more than 10 years.
U.S. President George W.
Bush’s administration has taken a more reconciliatory approach toward North Korea in recent times.
But unease about the reclusive state’s possible nuclear aid to Syria has stirred distrust of the U.S. administration among members of the Congress and media, who previously had given scant attention to policies toward Pyongyang.
On Oct. 25, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill appeared before a joint hearing of subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to testify about the six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs. But the top U.S. negotiator in the talks was bombarded with questions not just about North Korea, but about Syria’s suspected nuclear development.
One lawmaker asked whether North Korea had offered to help Syria’s nuclear ambitions. Another asked whether the U.S. government was providing massive energy aid and other help to North Korea even though Pyongyang possibly had provided nuclear technology to Damascus.
The repercussions of Syria’s moves could have a major bearing on how the United States proceeds with its efforts to promote the Middle East peace process. If North Korea assisted Syria’s nuclear development, Washington’s policy toward Pyongyang would become a key component of the war on terrorism.
Washington officials have insisted North Korea must not cross the “red line” of exporting nuclear weapons or technologies. As such, U.S. lawmakers have every right to take a keen interest in the suspicion swirling around Syria.
However, in his testimony, Hill only repeated that he was not in a questions about issues of intelligence agencies. The U.S. government has shifted its stance to one of dialogue with North Korea.
Even if Pyongyang steps over the red line and evidence proves it provided nuclear technology to Syria, Washington will be reluctant to return to a policy that favors putting the squeeze on North Korea.
Begin Blog Archive Article from November 23, 2005
THE EVIL AXIS ASSESSMENT HAS PROVEN TO BE TRUE!
Supplement to Archive Prophecy Update 137E
November 23, 2005
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
When President Bush first identified and announced, what he labeled as “The Evil Axis,” which he identified as Syria, Iran, and North Korea, he was ridiculed across Europe for having created a null hypotheses, a “straw man,” that did not exist. However, his analysis has proven to be correct. I believe North Korea will fade into the background, only to be replaced by Iraq after American troops are pulled out. In less than a year after they pull out, most of Iraq will be transformed into a type of Islamic republic government. The following ABC article came from the Daily Alert Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
BEGIN JERUSALEM CENTER DAILY ALERT ARTICLE
Iran Is Building Nukes in Underground Locations
North Korea Lending Iran a Hand to Develop Nuclear Missiles: Iranian Consultant
By LUIZ MARTINEZ and JACQUELINE SHIRE
November 22, 2005
Iran has built, with the help of North Korea, dozens of underground tunnels and facilities for the construction of nuclear-capable missiles, according to Alireza Jafardazeh, a Washington D.C.-based consultant and former spokesman for the National Council of the Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition group.
Speaking this morning at the National Press Club, Jafarzadeh described an “extensive large-scale operation” for the development of nuclear-capable missiles “in the most sophisticated, hidden way” in tunnels in a mountain range east of Tehran. Jafarzadeh named several Iranian entities involved in Iran’s missile program, overseen by the Hemmat Industries Group. He said that eyewitnesses describe the facilities, begun in 1989, as an “underground township.” Jafarzadeh added that, in addition to work on the Shahab family of missiles, Hemmat is overseeing work on a new long-range missile, Ghadar, which is still in development and has a projected range of 1,300 to 1,900 miles.
Reports of North Korean cooperation with Iran on its nuclear and missile programs have surfaced previously. In July 2005, Reuters cited a three-page intelligence report charging that North Koreans were teaching secret graduate-level courses at Tehran’s Polytechnic University in nuclear technology. The UK’s Telegraph reported in June 2005 that North Korean specialists in underground construction had arrived in Tehran to help design their facilities that would better shield Iran’s nuclear program from international scrutiny.
Jafarzadeh’s allegations come on the heels of the latest report on Iran from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which reveals that Iran received a document from the A.Q. Khan network in 1987 describing the “casting and machining” uranium into “hemispherical forms,” a process directly relevant to the design of a nuclear warhead.
A State Department official contacted by ABC News about Jafarzadeh’s charges was unable to corroborate them but did confirm that the Hemmat Industries Group was sanctioned in May 2003 as the unlawful recipient of missile technology from Moldova. The Shahab-3 was flight-tested by Iran in 2004.
It is known to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has a range of 1,500 kilometers.
Experts do not know how many such missiles Iran has produced or deployed.
END JERUSALEM CENTER DAILY ALERT ARTICLE
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by
the copyright owner.
We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.