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Subscribe to RSSChina has offered a rare criticism of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, after the country fired a long-range rocket that has been described by U.S. officials as a weapons test. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
North Korea does not appear to be making preparations for a nuclear weapons test following Tuesday’s test of a space launch vehicle, which was believed to be cover for a long-range missile test, U.S. intelligence analysts told NBC News.
South Korean and Japanese officials had feared that a nuclear weapons test — its third after previous detonations in in October 2006 and May 2009 — would quickly follow the launch.
But word that the North isn’t thought to be preparing for a test is providing little solace for Seoul or Tokyo, mainly because recent intelligence suggests that the North has made significant advances in its nuclear weapons program.
According to a recent analysis, North Korea has a weapon stockpile that could threaten both countries and, in longer term, the United States. Some of the weapons have already been deployed, say U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. Moreover, the North has begun research into more advanced and dangerous weapons, possibly even thermonuclear weapons, they say.
At the high end of the stockpile range, U.S. officials and other researchers said North Korea may already have up to "a few dozen" nuclear weapons that could be fitted atop its vast fleet of ballistic missiles. Those missiles are limited to an intermediate range, capable of hitting targets in Japan, South Korea or elsewhere in the northern Pacific, including U.S. military bases as far south as Guam, the officials believe.
South Korean Defense Ministry / Yonhap via AP
South Korean navy sailors carry debris from a rocket launched by North Korea, in the Yellow Sea, off Gunsan, South Korea on Wednesday. The debris is believed to be a fuel container of the first stage rocket. Defense officials said South Korea has no plans to return it to North Korea because the launch violated U.N. council resolutions.
'Highly provocative'
The U.S. believes the space launch test is part of a development plan for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental United States with a payload of several hundred kilotons — 10 to 20 times the size of the bombs that destroyed the Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland hinted about that Wednesday, calling the launch "highly provocative" and a "threat" to regional security. The U.S. is "concerned that all of this launching is about a weapons program and is not about peaceful uses of space," she added.
More North Korea coverage from NBC News
For the past several years, the U.S. also has been monitoring North Korean research into thermonuclear weapons — hydrogen bombs and bombs known as boosted fission weapons, in which plutonium and uranium are combined for a higher energy yield. (The problem is that if the North conducted a test and claimed that it was thermonuclear, the U.S. would have difficulty determining if the North was telling the truth. The test site at Kilchu is far enough inland that the U.S. would not have access to the particulate matter needed to make an accurate determination, experts say. )
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, a nonpartisan nuclear arms research group, said earlier this year that any tests in the future may also be about ensuring the reliability of North Korea's current weapons design.
There was anger, dismay and some surprise as North Korea launched a rocket in defiance of its critics abroad. NBC's Ian Williams reports from Beijing.
"Once you get beyond a dozen, it makes sense to test type and reliability of your weapons," he said. Albright said then that his group's estimate of North Korea's weapons stockpile is a bit less than those provided by the U.S. officials, but that ISIS, too, believes Pyongyang has "missile-deliverable weapons."
The design of the weapons is believed to be based on Chinese models (as were the first generation Pakistani nuclear weapons). The design is basic, and was developed in the 1960s with help from the Soviet Union, which used it to produce a whole line of nuclear warheads.
ANALYSIS: 'Spoiled child' North Korea snubs key ally China with rocket test
While some analysts suggest that the North is using its space rocket launch to gain attention ahead of next week’s presidential election in South Korea -- and possibly to force talks with the U.S. — some in the U.S. non-proliferation community think otherwise. They expect that once the North feels comfortable with its ICBM technology, it will deploy the missiles. They point to the Musudan intermediate range missile which was tested in middle of the last decade, then deployed — presumably with nuclear warheads — and aimed at Japan.
Once the North has confidence in the long-range missile based on the space rocket, U.S. officials believe they will deploy it as well, making North Korea the third nation to have nuclear weapons targeted at the United States, after Russia and China.
Many in the Obama administration see that as a more frightening prospect than Iran gaining nuclear weapons, believing that Tehran is a rational actor that will serve its own national interest and preserve the regime, compared to successive generations of North Korean leaders who have shown that they are unpredictable and erratic.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this March 9, 2011 photo, a girl plays the piano inside the Changgwang Elementary School in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
But would it force the U.S. turn to conduct face-to-face talks with the North? Nuland said Wednesday that the North has a better option.
Speaking of the North’s 27-year-old leader Kim Jong Un, Nuland said: "He can plot a way forward that ends the isolation, that brings relief and a different way of life and progress to his people, or he can further isolate them with steps like this. He can spend his time and his money shooting off missiles, or he can feed his people, but he can't have both."
Robert Windrem is a senior investigative producer for NBC News.
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I wonder if they will name there first bomb......Joke and the Fat-man?
or is that Jake and the fat man?
I can't remember....
Jesus put God first,not my will be done God,but thy will said Jesus,belief in God depends on putting God first.Jesus died to save mankind doing God's will.And Jesus says,a house divided against itself can't stand.So putting God first,not any one particular country first,but all countries,all mankind,Jesus says,mankind divided against itself in wars can't stand.
Mankind has been warring and killing one another long before JC was ever thought of. If you think that waving a Bible at a North Korean is going to intimidate him, you have another thing coming. If all you can do is stand up and wave a Bible than you are of no Earthly good. Even the Bible tells you how to wage War.
Not to worry, President Obama has everything under control. I'm sure he will take regular briefings on his Blackberry from the beach in Hawaii. I wonder if he realizes that Hawaii is the closest target for a North Korean missile. No I take that back. We wouldn't be that lucky.
I'm sure if the little Dictator sends a nuke our way we will return the favor 100 fold.
Yea, all the innocents will be killed while the little dictator cowers in his bunker.
We need to strike first with a few surgically placed nukes.
Ahhhh, listen to the little Trolls. Still nothing but Crumb Grabbing Rug Rats and Cheesers on Society. Just like your Daddies!!! You do know Obama Care car cure you of the Troll Gene?
Rattled?...no way, according to Obama and his cronies we should cut back on defense spending. Look around the world people...do you honestly think that now is the time to cut back. Seems to me that we need to ramp things up so we can be prepared for anything. Wonder how rattled they will be when Iran has nuclear capability.
How many times more would you like the ability to destroy the world. I think we're up to 5 right now? Not good enough???
Airborne dad....you are saying that if we are attacked in any way we should respond by unleashing our entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and ending life on this planet. That is not what I want to see. I would much rather deter other countries with smart weapons that won't put our soldiers in as much danger and will be more efficient than anything we have now. We will never get weapons like that without research and that won't happen if funding is cut.
I believe the majority of money cut is size of troop enlistment and arsenal. Both of which we have more than enough. I highly doubt there will ever be a cut in funding for research.
Dad
Our enlistments are dangerously thin. If we have to wage a war on two more fronts we wouldn't have the manpower.
It is pointless to cut our arsenal, but we may not need add to it unless the weapons are newer and safer for our troops.
The war on two fronts is an old and outdated military policy. It was dismissed years ago after technology surpassed the advantage of lot's of boots on the ground.
"if we wage war on more than two fronts" Why should we be waging ANY wars? Oh, that's right ... it's the American way - go kill more people who don't look like us.
"Why should we be waging ANY wars? Oh, that's right ... it's the American way - go kill more people who don't look like us."
So we can protect ourselves and our way of life before some country brings their wraith to our shores, and to give you the freedom to spout your hatred of America.
"The war on two fronts is an old and outdated military policy. It was dismissed years ago after technology surpassed the advantage of lots of boots on the ground."
If we had to go to one more country while we had boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan we would have had the troops.
The ability to defend ourselves and our ability to MAKE war are two different things. We don't need a huge military to defend ourselves. But a huge military to make war on others simultaneously is what republicans desire. Lesson from Israel... Out manned and literally out gunned on three simultaneous fronts for 6 days and yet they still kicked ass! Tactics and technology prevailed! I wonder where they learned that from.....
In an urban war you have to have men on the ground...drones can't do it...you have to have the manpower. If not, then you have mass casualties of innocent people. All this was proven in Iraq. If the US does not want to have to go to war then we need to make sure we are always the one that other's want to be like....not the one struggling to catch up. You can't build weapons overnight so you have to maintain them all along and you have to have the manpower that is proficient in using them. You keep a strong military to decrease the chances that you have to use them and you also have them in case you need them. I would rather have people defending America than have them on the welfare lines with their hands out, always wanting more.
Your last statement is ridiculous! You'd rather the government spend unneeded money on unneeded troop strength (government waste you'd be okay with) than pay for our infrastructure (also keeps people off the welfare line) and education! Here's the basic facts. We do NOT need to nation build! We kicked ass in Afghanistan with good reason and then we should have left! Iraq was not needed! Is the world better off without Saddam? Sure. But I for one would have been just fine not having China finance that war (again, government spending off the hook)! Both of those places are going to return to what they were before we went there and thats a fact! You're watching it happen as we speak!!!
I can't help but wonder at what point Japan will wise up and realize they need a nuclear arsenal too. Look at a map. Russia, China and North Korea all are nulcear states with the missles to easily reach every city in Japan. If I were the Japanese I would be really nervous hoping that another country was going to always be there to provide my defense when all my traditional enemies were nuclear armed. Or in other words are we really going to risk a full scale nulear war to save Japans arse if it came to that? History would suggest not unless we were actually attacked in the process.
They already have one. They get nuked and we nuke the attacker.
Don't forget India, Pakistan, and soon...Iran.
This is something that's been known by the US along time ago, now they they tell us like it's breaking news. I just wish they would aim it at the White House so we can get rid of the useless idiots.
When one is perceived as weak, the aggressive will always take advantage. It's the law of nature. Based on this news and the situation in Iran, what is the perception of the US and our POTUS? Expect the worst people.
You are Paranoid for no reason.
We should send them a carrier pigeon with a message that says in 8 days, we will send them one of our nuclear warheads and they can try and send us theirs and see whose actually gets there...at the same time we can fulfill the Mayan Prophecy, kill two birds with one stone...
You really believe that Mayan "RUMOR"? It is not the end of the world. They believed at a point time began all over again.
I'd rather see every square foot of North Korea vaporized by a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the US rendering even the soil bacteria dead, than see one American city destroyed by a North Korean missile.
Your "pre-preemptive strike would guarantee most major U.S. cities destroyed by retaliatory strikes from China.
If China is willing to see our sub-based missiles wipe China out as well, all for a country that is like an annoying zit on China's butt.
I'm not willing to take that chance. Are you?
A high-altitude EMP strike on North Korea, while provocative, would probably not risk drawing a Chinese response, at least not a nuclear one.
An EMP strike will not destroy N. Korea. Just means they'd have to replace any electronic equipment destroyed.
So they put a missle in the fringes of Space. Yes it is capable of hitting the West Coast. Yes you should keep a concerned eye out but I'm not going to be speculating on this. Until I see that they are building bunkers and silos I wouldn't get to suggestive about it. I got admit one thing about the "New Kid on the Block" he has China scratching their heads on this one.
America has no one but itself to blame. The idea of the melting pot to the world. We open our arms, goods and services to the world. Immigrants and students are all welcome to share in our expensive resources. They go home and tale their new found knowledge to fight against us. We offset these costs to everyone else but the legitimate American. Talk about representation. B.S.
Beans, Blankets and Bullets will become the mainstay of the few patriotic Americans.
Let's have a Tea Party.
One Japanese general, General Yamamoto, was educated in the US. He was ordered by the Emporer to plan an attack on the US. He knew what all this country was capable of doing, but made the plans as ordered. He also knew that the US would be getting back to full swing of revenge in about 6 months by his estimets. We were pretty much on schedule. If General Yamamoto was this intellegent the North Koreans are just as wise also. I also bet that they studied real close "The Vietnam War" from the Communist Prospective. It was really tuff fighting in Korea the first time and the next time it won't be any easier. If you have never been there they have some of the toughest Terrain to fight on there is. Weather is another obsticle, Summers are ok but Winters are bitter cold, not forgetting the 30 days of Monsoon.
Even if N. Korea had nucs, I don't think they are crazy enough to use them. My attitude is simple: Let's see what they do next and don't be paranoid just yet. I also believe if you're Paranoid you are already half defeated.
Bravo North Korea Bravo. Well done and keep going You have as much right to these weapons and technology as any other country. Do not back down ever to the pig phuckers the usa
If you like North Korea so much, go move there.
You do realize the moratorium on nuclear weapons is a global initiative right? Or are you just trying to provoke a ranting response simply because your bored/stupid?
pagan Has nothing to do with liking NK. Has to do with the pig phucker american goverment trying to control the world. If you usa citizens like them controlling you then fine but the rest of the world really thinks america is a bunch of meddling arrogant arses. They tolerate you for your $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Oh usasucks...it's not just the bucks...it's the whole Sex, Drugs and Rock-N-Roll culture thing. The US makes the best movies too. There are lots of things about the US the rest of the world wants to emulate. Of course there are the down sides to America...Barry Manilow, Vanilla Ice, the Oakland Raiders, Disco (which I personally believe seeped in from Canada), the designated hitter rule, most of the East Coast, all of the West Coast...well, there are a few issues, but for the most part the US is envied.
The only thing that scares us is if fatty (Kim Jong Un) comes over and eats up all our food!
If North Korea hasn't signed a treaty saying that they won't build and launch rockets and missles, then they have every right to do whatever they want in that regard. With people starving throught the country, I think that's a terrible use of money, but then look at how the US wastes money on it's stupid military when people are going without basic needs. We really have no right to talk.
We don't threaten our neighbors or other countrys with annihilation on a regular basis. Our human rights while not perfect are far better than N. Korea's. And finally, if you think mad menrunning countries have the right to make WMD's, go live in S. Korea or Japan for awhile.
Who appointed the US as the ethical and moral police of the world?
Last I heard, these are U.N. resolutions and a world initiative. This article is about the U.S. being concerned about N. Korea's ability to potentially hit the main land. Especially since N. Korea has repeatedly said it would strike U.S. interests in the area if provoked.
"Who appointed the US as the ethical and moral police of the world?"
We did by bailing out the rest of the world in WWI and WWII. Also we are the big kid on the block, and until someone knocks us down we will continue to be the police and the moral compass of the world.
The stronger we are the less likely we will be to engage in another war.
@Johnny, there is another view of WWI and WWII. Those wars were being fought for a long time before we entered them. Axis forces were stretched and they had been fighting a long time. we than entered the Wars, late in the game and with large numbers. than next thing was victory.
As for the Pacific War we ammassed a larger than theirs Navy. Had China on our side and the Austrailians. We went on an island hopping campaign. Fighting groups of their Army, one at a time. Look at some old film footage. One small island and so many ships around them, there was probably more surface space, if you added up all the decking of the ships than there was island surface. We fought that part of the war with overwhelming odds and high body count on each tiny island. If we had to invade Japans mainland I shudder to think of the body count. Heck we might have not beaten them who knows, we the atomic age at that time.
You say the stronger we are the less likely, have you forgot about Vietnam? That's a small country. I don't think strength is everything, a Reason, Will and Determination can win a majority of the time.
Obama has been bent of destroying America why would he care if N korea lobs a missle in our laps the day after he is out of office he will just go back home to Kenya and be a hero
@Sly .... you're an ass.
Problem is...nobody believes North Korea will launch a Nuclear Missile... until they do...then it will be to late.
Kim Jon Un appears to be a puppet being influenced by his fathers former regime. He is surrounded by the same old military leaders as his father and could be caught in the middle as far as makeing any serious positive changes to gain World Respect and Cooperation for his country. He knows as does his regime that to ever launch a Nuke at any country would be met with an immediate response that would incinerate Pyong Yang from existance. The eyes of the world are upon them!
Pyong Yang is just an eyewash city on the border. It was built to make S. Koreans want to become Communist. The rest of N.Korea is very much poverty stricken with small villages and poor people. Do you think poor people live in or can even affored a place like Pyong Yang.
The fear mongering will never end. Live and let live. We will all die, some sooner than others.
That's it....fear mongering. Aren't you tired of it? God, I'm tired of it.
yep! you are darn right we should be careful of n.Korea with these nukes. we blew it in the 50'S when we should have marched all the way to the Russian boarder. today we are stuck with this mess. i do believe the Koreans will try a shot at someone.....maybe soon. these people have no sense of morality. i do believe it will have to be a compound effort if we go at the north Koren's. i think it will have to be swift and hit them hard. i do believe Washington will need to stay out of the operation and let the military run things. do i have faith in Washington....NO! but i will defend this country against all enemies foreign and domestic.
wrong marine. It was MacArthur's pomposity that made him DISOBEY orders and push father than he should have. The Chinese marched in to protect their interests from a super power. Think about it.
Aso, MacArthur should have been court martialed as well. The arrogance of considering dropping the A bomb to end HIS F**k UP!!!!!
@frank, no the Chinese were out to spread Communism pure and simple. What is your problem with Macarthur? He had nothing to do with the decission to use the Atomic Bomb on Japan. If my memory serves me correctly he helped Japan to recover from the War, form a Government and is highly respected by the Japanese.
Everybody stop predicted the worst. Although I despise that little prick running the country now, I don't think his generals are stupid enuf to launch a preemptive strike.
@frank, is there anybody on this planet you like?
Also, China needs a stable Korean peninsula...they will not let them run willy nilly. We are major trade partners with China. They have to dump their cheap goods onto somebody, and right now it is us. it is in China's interests to keep a reign on the little prick.
Franklyorange, You got some of your info right, and some wrong. I am a U.S. retiree, living in S. Korea. First here in 1974, back and forth, and have lived here (in S.K.) since 1999. Your comments about MacArthur are partially right. He pushed into N.K. under orders to do so. He was there ok. It was when he wanted to preceed into China that he got in trouble. (And, I read several years ago, about the diplomats in China at that time......they misinterrpreted the Chinese intent completely......) And, the Chinese didn't enter the war to stop our aggression into their country. They did not want a free, democratic country.....i.e., a liberated Korea, on its borders. You should be a little more tolerant of the new president of N. Korea. He has been out of N.K. most of his life, and educated in Europe. He has a much clearer understanding of where his country is, in relation to the rest of the world, than 99.9% of all N. Koreans. But, he must have time. There is the old guard.....the old military might, brainwashed under his father and grandfather. Most of them will have to die, before he can do much. And, he has already begun to make some changes. But, it won't happen overnight. Some of these things, he must do, like the rocket. It is expected of him. I don't like them having the expertise that it takes to do this. But, China has said that it was, in fact, a rocket for weather observation. (Remember, they at first said that they disapproved of it. Then, they changed, and said that it was, indeed, a weather rocket. Because we can't prove it, one way or the other, let's leave it at that.) I will wait until there is another Pueblo incident, or another artillery shelling of a S. Korean island, or the sinking - it happened, not just alledged - before I make him the same as his father/grandfather. Don't be misled......he is not a funny little fat guy. He is the leader of a country with one of the largest standing armies in the world. And, he has hundreds of tons of chemical weapons THAT DO HAVE DELIVERY SYSTEMS enough to give an eternal heartburn to all of S. Korea and Japan. Better respect him, for the power that he controls, and not underestimate him.
Also, even though we only have a few tens of thousands of soldiers here, the S. Koreans have a very large and fit, and technically proficient military. The North knows that, coming here a second time would not be like the first, and frankly, I don't know if they would prevail or not. The S. Koreans do not like the N. Koreans much more than they do the Japanese. ANd they don't want to lose what they now have, as far as freedoms and all the good things that goes with freedom.
usasucs.....go crawl back under the rock from whence you came.....or better yet, go visit Germany,,,,,or Japan,,,,,or come visit S. Korea, and then take a little trip to N. Korea....and see the differences......The U.S. has not done everything right, for sure. But, we have not done everything wrong, either. Your kind of slimy comments.......well, tell us what country you are from, and the next time you are invaded by another country, or have some other country threatening you, we Americans will be sure to NOT COME AND HELP.....lest you should be "contaminated."
With all the idiots in this world the US is the last country to say NO to a country building and testing weaponry. If one country cant have weapons no country should have weapons period! And that Includes the US. But since the United States is the Lord of the World and can dish out punishment to any country it deems appropriate or can say no to Any country or stop them from creating and manufacturing weapons that day will never happen. Who says no to the Scientists in our country manufacturing weapons and biological warfare techniques? Who said no when the US Government decided to test their weapons in the desert here in the states leading to countless people getting cancer and other such diseases? I don't think I heard a peep.
Indeed, I'll say it gives me the creeps, but what if is just another ploy to start another war that the international banks can make loans on and earn interest with. I wasn't thinking about it until somebody repeatedly tried to get our attention in the news about it. That nation is obviously way behind us in most technilogical aspects, the problem is, the poor people that live there and are probably brainwashed in "his" favor and who have no choice but to fight and maybe die in an uprising against him or against us for "him." He maybe like "God" to them and probably saturates them with pro N. Korean propaganda daily in school. Should they end up being victims of our "advanced technology" or are we gonna work it out with these people. I think we better. That is my vote. We need to develop more pinpointy accurate weapons and then act to take out the military items that are bothering us. The U.N. might want to wait too long for our own good. Or, we could ask Dr. Phil. Kim could be more mature or less mature than average Americans his age. What are is alcoholic habbits I wonder, and has he been attending to reality and life or hs he been escaping "class" since childhood?