Norks challenge impotent UN

Washington Times:

North Korea responded Saturday to the latest economic and military sanctions from the U.N. Security Council with a threat to start enriching uranium and attack any country that stops its ships for inspection for military supplies.

The resolution passed unanimously by the council Friday freezes all funds, credit lines, grants and loans contributing to the nuclear, ballistic-missile and weapons of mass destruction "programs or activities" of the reclusive communist regime.

The resolution also permits governments to halt and search a plane or ship if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the cargo contains items useful to the manufacture or export of banned nuclear materials.

The legally binding sanctions drew a strong response from Pyongyang on Saturday.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the country's Foreign Ministry said, "It has become an absolutely impossible option for [North Korea] to even think about giving up its nuclear weapons."

Any attempts by U.S. and other countries to stop and inspect its ships would be regarded as "an act of war" that would be "met with a decisive military response," the North said.

The news agency quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry official as saying that Pyongyang would start a program to enrich uranium for a light-water reactor. The spokesman also said the North would "weaponize all plutonium, and we've reprocessed more than one-third of our spent nuclear fuel rods."

North Korea is thought to have about 110 pounds of plutonium, enough for a half-dozen bombs, Yoon Deok-min, a professor at South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, told the Associated Press.

Reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods stored at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex could yield an additional 18 to 22 pounds of plutonium - enough to make at least one more atomic bomb, he said.

...

The search sanctions are completely impotent. China has made clear that the use of force is unacceptable and the North Koreans have made clear that force will be needed to challenge any shipments. About the only non lethal tool the US has is to tie up North Korea's transfer of money by putting them back on the terror list. Since we know they were engaged in proliferation with a sale to Syria, it should not be that hard to get them back on the list.

The Washington Post reports:

...

"An attempted blockade of any kind by the United States and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response," North Korea said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said North Korea's "continuing provocative actions are deeply regrettable."

...


That Clinton comment is State Departmentese for "We are not happy, but we are not going to do anything at the moment.

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