Some Iranian ICBM Experts May Still be in N. Korea, Believed Close to Testing Uranium Nuke.

Some Iranian ICBM Experts May Still be in N. Korea, believed Close to Testing Uranium Nuke.(CC).North Korea is believed to be preparing its first test of a uranium nuclear weapon--Pyongyang's previous nuclear tests used plutonium. Click here to read more. As the Reuters article makes clear, there is no civilian purpose for such a test. Nor was there a peaceful purpose to Pyongyang's plutonium device detonations. North Korea clearly intends to become a producer of nuclear bombs and warheads--its scientists and technicians have been working on miniaturization--and proving that it can use enriched uranium instead of plutonium to manufacture the weapons is a significant step forward for the "military-first" regime. There is an Iranian hand in the North's uranium push. Should Iran decide to end its nuclear standoff with the West by accepting an agreement that will make it possible for the mullahocracy to end its suspect uranium enrichment activities while leaving intact both an ability to secretly make several nuclear weapons at short notice and a presumed stockpile of dirty bombs, the regime would like to be able to outsource nuclear weapons production to its proliferation partner. Bombs and warheads can be smuggled; and nuclear-tipped missiles can be concealed in shipping containers and fired at coastal cities from seemingly civilian cargo vessels, using camouflaged launch systems that Iran and North Korea are believed to have already tested. Foreign Confidential analysts believe that at least three Iranian ballistic missile experts are still in North Korea following its failed "satellite launch"--a thinly disguised test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that was produced with Iran's assistance. The remaining visitors were part of a larger Iranian delegation that observed the launch of the rocket that broke up about a minute after blasting off from the North's so-called space center. The continued presence of Iranian missile experts in the country could be a sign that Pyongyang is preparing more missile firings, analysts say, possibly including tests of medium and long-range missiles and actual, medium-range missile strikes on South Korean targets. Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs would not be possible without Iranian support. The partnership of the world's most militantly atheist country--Kimist/Communist North Korea--and the world's foremost clerical fascist nation--Islamist Iran--is both ironic and telling. At the very least, their close cooperation in nuclear and missile crimes makes a mockery of the argument, popular in pro-appeasement circles, that Iran's hostility to the West in general and to the United States in particular stems to a significant degree from alleged Western and U.S. insults to Islam. The Kimist-Islamist alliance also makes a mockery of the term international community. But that's another story. Hmmm......A Fatwa a day makes you work in peace?Read the full story here.


Update:  Angry North Korea threatens retaliation, nuclear test expected. (Yahoo).


Many analysts expect that with its third test, North Korea will for the first time try a nuclear device using highly enriched uranium, something it was long suspected of developing but which it only publicly admitted to about two years ago.
"If it conducts a nuclear test, it will be uranium rather than plutonium because North Korea would want to use the test as a big global advertisement for its newer, bigger nuclear capabilities," said Baek Seung-joo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defence Analysis.


Recent satellite images have showed that the North has pushed ahead with work at a facility where it conducted previous nuclear tests.
While the nuclear tests have successfully alarmed its neighbors, including China, they also showcase the North's technological skills which helps impress a hardline military at home and buyers of North Korean weapons, one of its few viable exports.
The North has long argued that in the face of a hostile United States, which has military bases in South Korea and Japan, it needs a nuclear arsenal to defend itself.
"The new young leadership of North Korea has a very stark choice; they need to take a hard look at their polices, stop the provocative action," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Brazil's capital.
The Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, rose to power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, last December. The country's propaganda machine has since made much of his physical likeness to his revered grandfather, the first leader and now North Korea's "eternal president".
But hopes that the young Kim could prove to be a reformer have faded fast. In his first public speech on Sunday, the chubby leader made clear that he would stick to the pro-military policies of his father that helped push the country into a devastating famine in the 1990s.
Kim is surrounded by the same coterie of generals that advised his father and he oversaw Sunday's mass military parade.
He urged his people and 1.2 million strong armed forces to "move forward to final victory" as he lauded his grandfather's and father's achievements in building the country's military.
Siegfried Hecker, a U.S. nuclear expert who in 2010 saw a uranium enrichment facility in North Korea, believes the state has 24-42 kg (53 to 95 pounds) of plutonium, enough for four to eight bombs.
Production of plutonium at its Yongbyon reprocessing plant has been halted since 2009 and producing highly enriched uranium would simultaneously allow Pyongyang to push ahead with its nuclear power program and augment its small plutonium stocks that could be used for weapons, Hecker says.
"I believe North Korean scientists and engineers have been working to design miniaturized warheads for years, but they will need to test to demonstrate that the design works: no nuclear test, no confidence," Hecker said in a paper last week.
"Unlike the claim that Pyongyang can make that its space launch is purely for civilian purposes, there is no such civilian cover for a nuclear test. It is purely for military reasons."Read the full story here.