UN passes sanctions despite North Korea threat of 'pre-emptive nuclear attack'

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The United Nations Security Council slapped new sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test hours after Pyongyang threatened to exercise its "right to pre-emptive nuclear attack" Thursday.

"Now that the U.S. is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors and to defend the supreme interests of the country," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. "The U.S. is massively deploying armed forces for aggression, including nuclear carrier task force and strategic bombers, enough to fight a nuclear war under the smokescreen of 'annual drills'."

Later on Thursday, the U.N. Security Council passed sanctions aimed at North Korea's financial transactions and illicit cargo shipments, and its criminal activities such as drugs and counterfeiting.

After the vote, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that the "entire world stands united in our commitment to the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula and in our demand that North Korea complies with its international obligations."

Asked about North Korea’s threat to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear attack, Rice said that it would "achieve nothing by continued threats and provocations," adding that such comments would "only further isolate" the country and its people.

The vote was passed unanimously by the 15 members of the Security Council, including China, the North's one major diplomatic ally.

China’s ambassador to the U.N., Li Baodong, said China hoped to see the resumption of diplomacy to try to reduce tensions.

"We need wisdom, we need persistence, perseverance, we need teamwork … to bring down the heat," Li said. "This is our focus."

South Korea’s envoy Kim Sook said North Korea choosing the wrong path could lead to its "self-destruction."

"We all have seen (today's) announcement coming out of Pyongyang, which is very hostile," he said.

Earlier, a spokesman for South Korea's defense ministry told Reuters that the military was "watching the North's activities and stepping up readiness."

Saber-rattling?

On Wednesday, the South Korean military said it would strike back at North Korea and target its top leadership if Pyongyang attacks.

Tensions have ratcheted higher across the Korean Peninsula since the North, under youthful leader Kim Jong Un who took office just over a year ago after the death of his father, launched a long-range rocket last December. He followed this with a third nuclear test on February 12.

Earlier in the week, Pyongyang threatened to end the 60-year truce that ended the Korean war.

Angus Walker, a Beijing-based correspondent with NBC News' partner ITV News, said the current consensus was that North Korea did not have a missile that was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

"There is always a lot of saber-rattling when the U.S. and South Korea stage large-scale military exercises," he said.

North Korea continues military drills and exercises in support of a top general's threat to back military action against South Korea and the United States. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

The North does have smaller missiles, as seen during military parades, and South Korea's capital Seoul is within artillery range.

While the North has in the past threatened to hit Seoul with a "rain of fire," claiming it can launch 250,000 artillery shells in an hour at the South Korean capital, the reality is that those artillery batteries could be destroyed very quickly, Walker said.

War-game scenarios have suggested that a war on the peninsula would be over quickly, with the North under U.S. and South Korean control within 24 hours, he said.

However, Walker suggested the nightmare scenarios are that the North could somehow get a truck-loaded device into the South or launch a "dirty bomb" in an artillery shell.

Earlier this week, the Korea Economic Institute warned that Pyongyang could "certainly inflict serious damage along the Southern side of the [demilitarized zone] in the event of a surprise attack" using artillery.

It added:

Taken together, North Korea’s forward deployed long-range artillery could launch as many as 20,000 shells an hour at downtown Seoul ... However, it is important to underscore that these are best-case figures (from North Korea’s military point of view) and in all reality, performance and frequency of the bombardment would be much lower than the numbers detailed above.

...300 artillery pieces in direct range of Seoul is of course a serious concern for allied commanders. A “sea of fire” might not be the result in case of their use, but it is evident that tens of thousands of civilians could die and even more injured if they were used in an indiscriminate way.

The Korea Economic Institute also pointed out that North Korea "reportedly has chemical munitions" that could be fired using artillery. In 2011, Pyongyang reportedly had 1.2 military personnel at its disposal.

Next steps

Seoul-based analyst Daniel Pinkston, North East Asia deputy project director with the International Crisis Group, said North Korea’s comments were "a little bit more serious" than its usual hostile rhetoric. He said Pyongyang appeared to see the moves to impose further sanctions on North Korea as similar to the preludes to the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pinkston said President Barack Obama should respond by stressing there was no intention to invade North Korea. But he also said the president should warn North Korea that if it "were ever to use nuclear weapons it would be your complete destruction and all the leadership would perish."

Pinkston said it would be suicide for North Korea to launch a nuclear attack, and doubted it would do so. But he added that there was "some kind of miscalculation" was always possible.

He said the U.S. had to stay in a diplomatic "Goldilocks" zone: It had to appear strong to deter North Korean aggression, but not so strong that the regime decided an attack was imminent.

"I think displaying a formidable amount of force that’s credible and can impose huge costs on them, I think that gets their attention and they are more likely to behave themselves," Pinkston said.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17220065-un-passes-sanctions-despite-north-korea-threat-of-pre-emptive-nuclear-attack?lite

[decocker 7,198]

it's all gonna be okay, dennis rodman's gonna work it out.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

it's all gonna be okay, dennis rodman's gonna work it out.

Thank goodness someone who is well respected and knowledgeable is working on it. We're safe!!

[^_^ 5,021]

Pinkston said President Barack Obama should respond by stressing there was no intention to invade North Korea. But he also said the president should warn North Korea that if it "were ever to use nuclear weapons it would be your complete destruction and all the leadership would perish."

So we're going to make threats and wait?

This is suicide. Destroy that country now. The whole thing. Kill the leaders, every civilian and every member of their military. South Korea can then have the mess, turn it into a resort or something.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

[quote name=' timestamp='1362678164' post='6029003]

So we're going to make threats and wait?

This is suicide. Destroy that country now. The whole thing. Kill the leaders, every civilian and every member of their military. South Korea can then have the mess, turn it into a resort or something.

At least if we did this the Korean people would think the Kim Jong Un was telling the truth that the US wanted to start a nuclear war with them. Will he go to that length for propaganda?

[^_^ 5,021]

At least if we did this the Korean people would think the Kim Jong Un was telling the truth that the US wanted to start a nuclear war with them. Will he go to that length for propaganda?

If we did what I said we should do, there won't be any North Korean people left, no Kim Jong Whatever, nothing.

[decocker 7,198]

Thank goodness someone who is well respected and knowledgeable is working on it. We're safe!!

oh no! respect and knowledge is never why the u.s. is safe..massive egos, bulletproof narcissism, and alcohol dependency! it's what makes this country great.

[quote name=' timestamp='1362678164' post='6029003]

This is suicide. Destroy that country now. The whole thing. Kill the leaders, every civilian and every member of their military. South Korea can then have the mess, turn it into a resort or something.

so mean.

[^_^ 5,021]

so mean.

hey, if you say you're gonna kill me and you have the ability and reason to do it... then i gotta take you seriously and try to kill you first.

its not personal.

[decocker 7,198]

[quote name=' timestamp='1362678862' post='6029049]

hey, if you say you're gonna kill me and you have the ability and reason to do it... then i gotta take you seriously and try to kill you first.

its not personal.

preemptive bush disease. you've got it.

[^_^ 5,021]

preemptive bush disease. you've got it.

i have no problem with the bush doctrine.

as long as the wmd's actually exist, of course.

[decocker 7,198]

[quote name=' timestamp='1362679042' post='6029056]

i have no problem with the bush doctrine.

as long as the wmd's actually exist, of course.

my condolences.

korea's wmd?

[Caryh 5,206]

my condolences.

korea's wmd?

Nuclear weapons of course. We just gotta hit them on a good day when the winds are blowing away from our allies in the area. Can we move Iran next to North Korea for a few days???

[^_^ 5,021]

We just gotta hit them on a good day when the winds are blowing away from our allies in the area.

we don't have to nuke them. we can kill them all with conventional weapons, it just has to be quick and overwhelming, kind of the way our street gangs operate, a swarm that appears out of nowhere and doesn't stop until it makes you dead.

[decocker 7,198]

Nuclear weapons of course. We just gotta hit them on a good day when the winds are blowing away from our allies in the area. Can we move Iran next to North Korea for a few days???

i wasn't sure if ^ _ ^ was referring to iraq or korea. either way, not a fan of nuking preemptively. bad precedent.

Edited March 7, 2013 by val erie

[spookyturtle 9,466]

[quote name=' timestamp='1362684817' post='6029318]

we don't have to nuke them. we can kill them all with conventional weapons, it just has to be quick and overwhelming, kind of the way our street gangs operate, a swarm that appears out of nowhere and doesn't stop until it makes you dead.

It should be pretty simple to wipe out the army since the bulk of it is lined up at the border with South Korea. Everything is in a relatively confined area. They have no air force to worry about. A few thousand cruise missles and bombing runs by a few hundred planes in a day should get the job started.