USA: Warnung vor Atomtest seitens Nordkorea

Geschrieben von YingYang am 23. April 2005 01:48:15:

Als Antwort auf: NACHRICHTEN (Samstag, 23.04.) (owT) geschrieben von Johannes am 23. April 2005 00:53:46:

By Gordon Fairclough Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

SEOUL -- The U.S. has quietly warned China that North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear-weapons test and asked the Chinese to urge Pyongyang to desist, according to a U.S. official.
In what the U.S. official characterized as an "emergency demarche," or diplomatic communication, delivered to Beijing Thursday, Washington said that, in light of recent North Korean words and actions, a test could be in the works. The demarche also says that the U.S. believes the North Korean nuclear program is advanced enough that a test could come with little or no warning. Another official said the U.S. test fears also were being conveyed to South Korea and Japan, in addition to Beijing. Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is scheduled to visit all three countries next week.
U.S. concern about North Korea''s intentions has mounted since the country announced in February that it was withdrawing "indefinitely" from multilateral disarmament talks. The U.S. has been urging China, in particular, to push North Korea back into those international talks on its nuclear program. Since its February declaration, North Korea has declared its intention to strengthen its nuclear arsenal. It also shut down a nuclear reactor, a move that could be a prelude to extracting more plutonium for use in bombs. In addition, the U.S. official said that spy satellites have observed heightened activity at missile sites as well as "at various suspect sites" in North Korea where it is believed underground tests could be carried out. But the official acknowledged thatit is difficult to divine the true intent of that activity.

A test would mark a major escalation of the nuclear standoff and a failure in the diplomatic efforts undertaken by the Bush administration and North Korea''s neighbors to contain Pyongyang''s nuclear ambitions. Still, many analysts doubt North Korea actually would take such a provocative step, which could seriously alienate China and increase the likelihood that Pyongyang would face international economic sanctions. The U.S. official cautioned that the movements detected by the American satellites could be part of a strategic feint by Pyongyang.
"It''s clear the North Koreans want the world to think that they are moving quickly and rapidly toward a nuclear test," said the U.S. official. "Whether they really have the ability to do it is an open question." Pyongyang has a penchant for deception. North Korea has said at leasttwice in the course of the multilateral disarmament talks that it would test a weapon. Last summer, the U.S. detected what some analysts considered possible signs of preparation for a nuclear test. But none occurred. Later last year, the U.S. also picked up signs of large-scale activity at ballistic-missile test-launch sites.
There was so much activity at multiple sites that many at the Pentagon were persuaded a real launch was in the offing. Again, none occurred.
About two weeks ago, a North Korean nuclear reactor stopped operating. It is unclear whether the shutdown was caused by technical problems, or whether it is the first step toward removing spent fuel rods and extracting plutonium for use in atomic weapons.
The U.S. official said Washington hasn''t been able to determine whether fuel rods have been removed. For several years, U.S. intelligence agencies have estimated that North Korea probably has one or two atomic bombs.But over the past two years, the country says it has moved ahead with reprocessing more spent reactor fuel rods to extract more plutonium. Washington has pushed North Korea''s neighbors, but especially China, to use their leverage to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. China is North Korea''s primary source of both food and fuel. U.S. officials visited Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul in February to make their case that North Korea shipped sensitive nuclear material that ended up in Libya several years ago, in an effort to stress the urgency of the matter.

By Gordon Fairclough, The Wall Street Journal

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111419460095914669,00.html (nur mit Registrierung Zugriff möglich).

lg YY

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