It Is Serious Now: South Korea Confirms Traces Of RADIOACTIVE GAS From North Korea’s NUCLEAR TEST.
by Ruby Henley
On Wednesday South Korea confirmed traces of radioactive xenon gas were detected in the environment. North Korea performed a nuclear test earlier this month; however, it was not concluded whether the test had been a hydrogen bomb as Pyongyang had announced. This opens a new chapter in the continual threats by North Korea, and it is a very grave chapter we find ourselves in. We now have proof of the unfortunate escalation in North Korea’s ability to contaminate the global environment.
There seems to be no doubt at this time that North Korea is deadly serious with its continual threats against the United States, but this will not only affect the United States but other countries, too.
North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on September 3, 2017. What did the world do to punish Kim Jong-un for this conduct? The UN Security Council ramped up sanctions with a ban on the regime’s textile exports and a cap on fuel supplies.
However, this does not appear to be working, and I do not believe for a minute it will stop Kim Jong-un. It seems we are going to have to be more creative than sanctions at stopping North Korea. You ask “creative” how? How could we stop Kim Jong-un without hurting his people, who have already suffered enough? Think about that for a few moments.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said its land-based xenon detector in the northeastern part of the country found traces of xenon-133 isotope on nine occasions. Its mobile equipment off the country’s east coast detected traces of the isotope four times. Don’t you think enough is enough?
“It was difficult to find out how powerful the nuclear test was with the amount of xenon detected, but we can say the xenon was from North Korea,” Choi Jongbae, executive commissioner told the press in Seoul. However, the commission could not confirm what kind of nuclear test the North conducted, he added.
Xenon is a naturally occurring, colorless gas that is used in manufacturing of some sorts of lights. But the detected xenon-133 is a radioactive isotope that does not occur naturally and which has been linked to North Korea’s nuclear tests in the past.
So where do we go from here? South Korea says they are bracing themselves for more of the same from North Korea. Nothing will stop Kim Jong-un short of the world accepting him as a nuclear power…bottom line.
Seoul is ready to give the green light to install more batteries of the controversial Thaad system amid these grave tensions with Pyongyang. China has said it will defend North Korea if the United States does a pre-emptive strike against the Country. So China is making yet another statement on what its actions would be if the US does a pre-emptive strike.
President Trump’s national security advisers presented him with options in dealing with North Korea.
- Pre-emptive strike
- Nuclear capabilities
- Serious repercussions with China backing Pyongyang
The next big question is what US cities are in danger from a North Korea missile launch?
https://thebalticpost.com/2017/07/29/which-us-cities-could-north-koreas-ballistic-missile-hit/
Military analysts say the latest North Korean ballistic missile appeared to have a range of around 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), which would put the US mainland within its reach.
“Based on current information, today’s missile test by North Korea could easily reach the US West Coast, and a number of major US cities,” arms expert David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists said on his blog.
Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago appear to be well within range of the ICBM, which may also be capable of hitting Boston and New York, Wright said.
North Korean officials said the latest missile had flown for 47 minutes and reached an altitude of more than 3,700 kilometers. On a standard trajectory, the missile would have a range of 10,400 kilometers.
So, as you can see it is a reality that North Korea is a grave and very real threat to the United States.
This is not the first time China has warned the US not to escalate: on August 11, Beijing, through the state-owned media, cautioned the US president on Friday that it would intervene (militarily) on North Korea’s behalf if the US and South Korea launch a preemptive strike to “overthrow the North Korean regime,” according to a statement in the influential state-run newspaper Global Times.
“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” it said.
At the same time, the Chinese regime made it clear that its preferred outcome would be a continuation of the status quo, warning Kim Jong Un, or perhaps Trump, that it would “remain neutral if North Korea were to strike first.”
As we said almost one month ago:
“not surprisingly, analysts have compared the standoff between the two nuclear powers (the North is a recent, if untested, member of this club) to a modern day Cuban Missile crisis. “This situation is beginning to develop into this generation’s Cuban Missile crisis moment,” ING’s chief Asia economist Robert Carnell said in a research note. “While the U.S. president insists on ramping up the war of words, there is a decreasing chance of any diplomatic solution.”
Since then, the potential risks, mutual threats and near-hostilities have grown exponentially. China – which is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 92% of two-way trade last year, and also provides hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil and fuel to the impoverished regime – has only dug in deeper, explaining repeatedly that it wants a peaceful de-escalation and that it would not side with the US in case of a military conflict.
So are there any other solutions in dealing with Kim Jong-un? I have one, and it seems our military may be considering it.
North Korea accused the CIA of plotting to kill supreme leader Kim Jong-un with a “bio-chemical” attack, as it threatened to “mercilessly destroy” US and South Korean intelligence agencies.
A spokesman for the secretive regime claimed that a “terrorist group” supported by the CIA attempted to poison Mr Kim in April, according to Yonhap News.
KCNA claimed the assassin was a “lumberjack” who used to work in Russia.
Neither the CIA nor South Korean intelligence agencies have responded to the extraordinary allegations, which experts dismissed as regime propaganda.
North Korean propaganda frequently claims that foreign enemies are trying to kill the supreme leader, though it marks the first time the CIA has been directly accused of plotting a chemical attack on Mr Kim.
We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists of the U.S. CIA,” a North Korean security minister said in a statement published by state media.
“[A] Korean-style anti-terrorist attack will be commenced from this moment to sweep away the intelligence and plot-breeding organizations of the U.S. imperialists and the puppet clique [of South Korea].”
The regime went on to claim that the chemical agent which was used “takes 6-12 months for its lethal effects to appear.”
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been near boiling point since the isolated country threatened to carry out its sixth nuclear test and threatened “imminent” war against the United States.
Retired Admiral James Stavridis said at the time that assassination would be “tempting” but “the question you have to ask is what happens the day after you decapitate? In North Korea it’s an enormous unknown.”
The option for the US to assassinate foreign leaders has been heavily downgraded since the end of the Cold War, and an attempt to kill Mr Kim would be a stark reversal of US foreign policy over the last four decades.
According to an executive order signed by President Ronald Reagan “no person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination”.
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un gives a piggyback to a soldier
However, there is no statute against doing so as long as the foreign leader is not in America or a third country. It comes after Mr Kim allegedly ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who was once the heir apparent to their father, Kim Jong-il.
The 45-year-old was sprayed with a chemical nerve agent by two women at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017 and died shortly after.
Experts suggested that North Korea was trying to deflect accusations that it uses chemical weapons by accusing its enemies of doing the same.
“This appears to be more about confusing or counteracting domestic rumours about how Kim Jong-nam was killed,” said Dr Adam Cathcart, a lecturer at Leeds University.
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