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North Korea's nuclear ambitions provoked by U.S. nuclear experiments

Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2006-10-05 03:17.

By Andrew Kishner, www.StopDivineStrake.com

The worldwide media has largely ignored the fact that the North Korean government's first mention of a nuclear test on Sept. 7, 2006, came on the heels of the United States' successful completion eight days earlier of its 23rd subcritical nuclear experiment. In the Sept. 7th annoucement, North Korea's Central News Agency noted that a South Korean group, the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, made a statement accusing the United States' subcritical test as an "obvious criminal act of disturbing the global peace."

Shortly before the U.S. subcritical test was conducted on August 30, Nagasaki Mayor Itoh Iccho sent a statement of protest to demand an immediate cancellation of the subcritical nuclear test, stating, "It may give other countries a pretext for developing their nuclear weapons, amounting to an outrageous act that threatens the world peace and stability." Political Affairs Magazine - Japan Peace Groups Say No to US Nuke Test

The subcritical test, dubbed Unicorn, was one of two nuclear experiments planned by the United States government in mid-2006.

In early June, the Pentagon planned - but was thwarted in its attempts by citizen protests - to conduct Divine Strake, a conventional explosives test designed to assess the bunker-busting ability of a low-yield nuclear weapon. The test has been postponed until 2007. Hans Blix, the former U.N. chief weapons inspector, said in a June report issued by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, of which Blix is chairman, that countries should not pursue low-yield nuclear weapons for fear of creating a new arms race. "Of particular concern would be the adoption of doctrines and weapon systems that blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons, or lower the nuclear threshold. Such modifications could over time have a domino effect and give rise to a renewed demand to resume nuclear testing."

A month before the Pentagon's April announcement of the Divine Strake test, which would have been conducted on Western Shoshone land in Nevada, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) found the United States in violation of recognized fundamental human rights standards and international law, and expressed particular concern about "the reported resumption of underground nuclear testing" on Western Shoshone ancestral lands.

The numerous protests and conclusions of world leaders and international organizations provide a compelling reason to focus on the United States government's nuclear policies. This nuclear posture can be perceived as not only in violation of test ban treaties, but also as threatening or even provocative to other countries.

G8 powers, not just the United States, must set the example, not the exception. Why? Because the 'weaker' sovereign nations in the world have not responded positively and will never respond positively to a foreign policy of 'do as I say, not what I do.'

Citizens in the United States must realize that the power to wage peace lies in their hands. They must oppose their government's nuclear ambitions in order to send the right message to our friends and perceived enemies abroad. What you can do:

Oppose plans for increased plutonium pit production and the Divine Strake test slated for 2007.

Demand that your leaders ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

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