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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Tag Archives | North Korea

North Korea’s Underground Nuke Test

By on 25 May 2009

Update:

… North Korea’s detonation of a nuclear device is being taken more seriously by the international community than its long-range missile test of April 5, which Pyongyang defended as a satellite launch. Leaders of several countries, including the U.S., U.K., South Korea and Japan, immediately condemned Monday’s actions.

President Barack Obama, in a statement, called the action a “matter of grave concern to all nations” and said North Korea was undermining stability in northeast Asia. “It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon New York time to discuss the North’s actions. …

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We’ll have to wait to get more information, as well as independent verification, which at this early stage the State Department says it cannot offer. Via the AP:

North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, weeks after threatening to restart its rogue atomic program.

The country’s official Korean Central News Agency called Monday’s test “part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense.” …

The Japan Meteorological Agency also said it detected seismic activity Monday morning. “We are checking whether they were due to a nuclear test,” agency official Gen Aoki said in Tokyo. …

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Ask a Stupid Question…

By on 06 April 2009

Get a stupid answer. Rasmussen and Politico doing a tag team on North Korea. Rasmussen asks the question (h/t Democracy Arsenal), with Politico setting up Newt Gingrich pretty well in their “Voters back force in N. Korea” headline on the polling.

In what seemed to be a swipe at the Obama administration’s response, he warned, “One morning, just like 9/11, there’s going to be a disaster,” adding, “I have yet to see the United Nations do anything effective with either Iran or North Korea.”

Okay, so let’s play it out. We take out North Korea’s missile on the launch pad. Now tell the international story.

North Korea’s Taepodong-2 missile went around 1,984 miles miles then made a splash landing, though the government is saying otherwise. That’s around twice the range of the first launch in ’98.

No matter how you look at it, North Korea is a long way from hitting Alaska or anywhere else in the U.S. So what Mr. Gingrich is suggesting is to do exactly what Pyongyang wants and that is to give them the wrong kind of attention they so desperately seek, with Gingrich’s solution helping them a lot more than the U.S. Typical foreign policy strategy of conservatives of Gingrich’s ilk.

Steve Clemons has a potentially powerful, if provocative, suggestion on how to respond to North Korea’s “pin-pricks.”

At the same time, we simply need more alternatives and allies — and the best I can think of is to work with Japan, South Korea, and China in not calling for withdrawing engagement and toughening sanctions but rather crafting how to strategically enhance engagement with particular forces inside North Korea that we want to cultivate.

It’s time for a Nixonian approach that would enrich some of North Korea’s potential robber barons against the interests of others inside the regime. We need to try to unleash opportunities for some and not others. [...]

Utilizing North Korea’s neighbors, Japan, South Korea, and even China is a much smarter play. We don’t have to do everything ourselves. In fact, we shouldn’t.

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It Isn’t Just About Israel and Iran

By on 05 April 2009

North Korea’s launch is the backdrop, but in the conversation on nuclear proliferation this isn’t just about Netanyahu’s bluster, and Ahmadinejad’s ambitions in the face of little proof of manifestations as yet. It’s also about Russian loose nukes, as well as the underground market that Pakistan let run unchecked so long, the tensions yo-yoing with India, as other nations like Saudi Arabia race to arm.

North Korea defied the United States, China and a series of United Nations resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that the country said was designed to propel a satellite into space, but that much of the world viewed as an effort to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile.

[...] Manufacturing a nuclear warhead that is small enough, light enough and heat-resistant enough to be mounted atop a missile is far more complex than building a basic nuclear device — and intelligence officials and outside experts believe North Korea is still years from that accomplishment. Typically, it takes many years of experimentation for a nation to learn how to shrink an ungainly test device into a slim warhead.

Nonetheless, the series of tests in recent years — in 2006 and 1998 — is prompting fears of North Korean proliferation among Japanese, Chinese and Western leaders. North Korea’s missiles have ranked among its few profitable exports — Iran, Syria and Pakistan have all been among its major customers. If this long-range test ends up a success, it would presumably make the design far more attractive on the international black market. …

President Obama’s statement on the Taepo-dong 2 missile launch by the North Koreans:

North Korea’s development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security. The launch today of a Taepo-dong 2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind. With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.

We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council. I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.

Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery is a high priority for my administration. The United States is fully committed to maintaining security and stability in northeast Asia and we will continue working for the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party Talks. The Six-Party Talks provide the forum for achieving denuclearization, reducing tensions, and for resolving other issues of concern between North Korea, its four neighbors, and the United States. North Korea has a pathway to acceptance in the international community, but it will not find that acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and abides by its international obligations and commitments.

But as Robert Gates, whose defense budget is due tomorrow and will likely shake the earth, said recently in an interview on Fox, Six-Party Talks haven’t worked, and we’re not prepared to shoot any missile there down. It’s about inflicting damage that would mainly hit the North Korean people who are already in deep trouble: “Frankly, from my perspective, the opportunity for success is probably more in economic sanctions in both places than it is in diplomacy,” Gates said. “What gets them to the table is economic sanctions.”

We need Medvedev to do anything about nuclear proliferation, and we all await Undersecretary of State William Burns and what he has to say about Iran next week, because they’re next on any conversations on the topic, even though they’re years away, despite what Mr. Netanyahu believes.

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Clinton on North Korea

By on 26 March 2009

A long-range ballistic missile possibly being readied for launch by Pyongyang got the attention of the Obama administration.

Secretary Clinton was short and to the point:

“We have made it very clear that the North Koreans pursue this pathway at a cost and with consequences to the six-party talks which we would like to see revived and moving forward as quickly as possible. This provocative action … will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences.”

While I’m at the G-20 prep symposium, consider this a topic free for all. I’ll be back late this afternoon.

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Monday Morning Java Jolt: Clinton Heads to Asia

By on 16 February 2009

japan_clinton_asia_xkan104UPDATE: Clinton arrives in Japan.

Wake up and smell the coffee readers. Taylor is hitting the road for her cross country journey this morning and my goal is to keep you all informed while she’s on the road. Having just made a cross country road trip and move myself just about 4 months ago, I hope Taylor’s is as much fun and trouble-free as mine was.

As Taylor mentioned here yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Asia this week and her trip should give us plenty to talk about. Clinton is traveling to Asia where she will “seek to develop a strong coordinated response to the global financial crisis between the U.S. and Asia’s economic powers during her four-nation regional tour.”

Mrs. Clinton cited, in particular, China’s “robust stimulus plan” as the type of action the Obama administration is hoping to see from Asian nations in an effort to reenergize the global financial system.

“I will be discussing with [Asian countries] the approaches that they’ll be taking” to stimulate their economies “and seeking greater cooperation,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters aboard en route to Alaska from Washington. “The Chinese have a very robust stimulus plan…They are taking internal steps.”

Mrs. Clinton arrives in Tokyo Monday evening and will then travel to Indonesia, South Korea and China.

Clinton will be meeting with “religious readers, university students, and business leaders across the region” and she has “described her trip as primarily a listening tour to learn more about how Washington can develop partnerships to combat key economic, security or environmental issues.” Clinton said that “the information she gathers will feed into the Obama administration’s review of its Asia policy.”

“We have a very broad agenda to deal with when it comes to China,” Mrs. Clinton said. “This first trip will be intended to find a path forward.”

Mrs. Clinton said she’s raise human rights issues in China when she takes part in a town hall meeting in Beijing.

The timing of Clinton’s trip is impeccable given the news that Japan’s economy is tanking again, at the “fatest pace” since the 1970′s:

The sharp downturn is exposing the vulnerability of Japan’s export-driven economic recovery. The dismal figures also place Japan firmly among the worst-hit in the global crisis, dwarfing economic declines in the United States and Europe.

And speaking of the timing of Clinton’s trip to Asia, as Clinton was in flight to Tokyo, there was news that “North Korea was threatening to fire a missile.”

“The North Koreans have already agreed to dismantling,” she said. “We expect them to fulfill the obligations that they entered into.”

The secretary has warned North Korea “to avoid any provocative action and unhelpful rhetoric.”

Clinton said her trip will demonstrate a new U.S. commitment to work with Asian leaders on “problems that no one nation, including ours, can deal with alone.”

Clinton also promised to meet with families of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and ’80s.

She said, “We do want to press the North Koreans to be more forthcoming with information.”

Needless to say there should be plenty to talk about as we start of the week with a jolt of java and what appears to be the beginning of an interesting week for Secretary Clinton in Asia.

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Clinton Today

By on 27 January 2009

Secretary Clinton in her first news conference:

“There is a great exhalation of breath going on in the world as people express their appreciation for the new direction that’s being set and the team that is put together by the president,” Clinton said. “We have a lot of damage to repair.”

On North Korea:

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, you have raised a number of questions that we are in the process of assessing ourselves. With respect to North Korea, I think the Six-Party Talks are essential. They’ve not only been a useful forum for the participants to deal with the challenge of North Korea’s nuclear program and the other issues that are part of the North Korean agenda, but within the Six-Party Talks there have been bilateral meetings. And we are going to pursue steps that we think are effective. And I think I’ll leave it at that. But it is important that I underscore what we see as the significance of the Six-Party Talks. They’ve been useful not only vis-à-vis North Korea, but among the participating nations on related matters in the region.

Clinton also weighed in on the breach ceasefire, coming down strongly on the side of Israel, as expected:

“We support Israel’s right to self-defence. The (Palestinian) rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas (in Israel) cannot go unanswered,” Clinton said in her first news conference at the State Department.The top U.S. diplomat, whose comments may be seen by some as giving Israel a green light to once again pound Gaza, accused Hamas of “offensive” action against the Israeli Defence Forces on the border.

“It is regrettable that the Hamas leadership apparently believes that it is in their interest to provoke the right of self-defence instead of building a better future for the people of Gaza,” said Clinton. [...]

But one of the biggest things in Hillary’s day today was also the letter she received requesting partnership benefits for gays and lesbians.

Nearly 2,200 government employees involved in foreign policy issues signed a letter delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday calling on the government to give equal benefits to same-sex partners.

The Bush administration had eased some rules, opening up some training to same-sex partners, but had resisted efforts to treat homosexual partners the same as married couples. But Clinton, during her confirmation hearings, indicated a greater willingness to explore the issue.

“I think that we should take a hard look at the existing policy,” Clinton said in response to a question from Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). “My understanding is other nations have moved to extend that partnership benefit.” [...]

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