North Korea

(CNN International) North Korean dictator warns the Trump administration that he has nuclear missiles capable of reaching the US. North Korea says it could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile "at any time," even as Pyongyang appeared to offer Donald Trump an avenue for future talks.Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen considerably since leader Kim Jong Un said in his new year's message that the country was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the US mainland. Few options: Strict international sanctions have so far failed to prevent Pyongyang from developing its nuclear program. In the Sunday statement, the country's foreign ministry alluded to those sanctions and said US officials "spout rubbish" when they assume Obama's policies will be maintained in future."Anyone who wants to deal with (North Korea) would be well advised to secure a new way of thinking after having clear understanding of it," the statement said. John Delury, associate professor of international studies at Yonsei University said the statement was "definitely a message to the Trump transition team to say don't go down this dead end (of sanctions)." Trump talks? Following Pyongyang's apparent nuke threat in Kim's new year's speech, Trump tweeted that "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US. It won't happen!" Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway was later asked on "Good Morning America" what the President-elect intended to do to stop North Korea's nukes. "He's not stated that publicly, and he won't before he's inaugurated," Conway said. Analysts have said that Trump, through his own pronouncements and the failure of the Obama administration to prevent North Korea from developing its nuclear arsenal, is left with few options. Since six-party talks broke down in 2009, North Korea has claimed to have conducted four successful nuclear tests, strengthening its hand in any future negotiations."There's no question signaling is going on," Delury said. "(The North Koreans) are trying to create some space for Trump to reverse the Obama policy and talk with them in a serious way." (New York Post) North Korea is “readying two intercontinental ballistic missiles” to “nuke” Donald’s Trump inauguration, it’s been reported. Military officials say the rogue state wants to send a “strategic message” to the incoming US president by timing launches to ruin his big day on Friday. In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the reports could not be confirmed but that the military was monitoring the situation closely. However, according to news reports in South Korea, two missiles have already been placed on mobile launchers.The devices “are estimated to not exceed 15m [49 feet] in length, making them shorter than the North’s existing ICBMs.” An ICBM test in the coming days is “highly plausible,” Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seoul’s Kookmin University, told CNN. “Judging by earlier behavior, they usually like to greet a newly elected American president with some kind of nice surprise like a nuclear (test) or missile launch,” he said. “Because President-elect Trump tweeted that ‘it won’t happen,’ such a launch could be seen as a serious humiliation for (the US).” The news comes as satellite imagery shows increased activity at a major North Korean nuclear site, according to a new report. Any potential ICBM test, while a propaganda win for Pyongyang, would also reveal a great deal about the progress of North Korea’s weapons program. Military experts predicted that any test would only involve a missile with a range of under 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles), less than half the usual ICBM range of 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles). US-based monitoring project 38North said evidence suggested Pyongyang may also be preparing to resume operations at a plutonium production reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the capital. “Stepped-up activities throughout the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center indicate that it is operating at a level somewhat above what has been observed during the past five years,” the report said. “The exact implications of that activity remain unclear except to reaffirm that the Yongbyon facility remains the center of North Korea’s nuclear program.” Plutonium from the Yongbyon reactor is believed to have been used in North Korea’s nuclear weapons tests, according to a US government report. Traditional nuclear weapons use plutonium or uranium as their main fuel. The “Fat Man” bomb the US dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, used 14 pounds of plutonium, producing a blast equivalent to about 21,000 tons of TNT. The threat comes after it was revealed that Kim Jong Un’s military will have nuclear warheads capable of striking US territory within a year.

• published: 24 Jan 2017
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