Vergeet Irak, focus op Noord Korea.

N. Korea renews nuclear threats

(CNN) -- North Korea has renewed threats to boost its nuclear weapons program, saying increasing U.S. pressure leaves it with no other option but to defend itself.

In a commentary carried on KCNA -- the official government news service -- Pyongyang said the United States was trying to force North Korea to disarm ahead of a military attack.

"The Iraqi war proved that disarmament leads to a war. Therefore, it is quite clear that the DPRK (North Korea) can never accept the U.S. demand that it scrap its nuclear weapons program first," the signed government statement said.

North Korea had the right to build up a nuclear deterrent force for self-defense, the commentary said, adding that Pyongyang "would exercise all its rights to avert a war, protect the sovereignty and security of the country."

Washington has denied it has any plans to attack North Korea but has not ruled out a military option should diplomacy fail to curb Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea said U.S. attempts to "isolate and stifle" the nation would spur it to increase its nuclear deterrent force.

North Korea repeated its warning that it would regard any sanctions imposed on it as a declaration of war.

The comments come as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz issued a strong warning to the North against any attempt to attack South Korea or Japan.

Speaking before the House Armed services Committee, Wolfowitz said if North Korea were to attack, "the United States and its allies have the military capabilities to defeat North Korea, using all of the means at our disposal."

These included "the enormously improved strike capabilities that the world has just seen in Iraq and earlier in Afghanistan."

And in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Southeast Asian nations to close ranks behind Washington's effort to form a coalition of countries to rein-in North Korea, Associated Press reports.

"This is not a bilateral matter between the United States and North Korea," Powell said, according to a U.S. State Department official.

"It affects every nation in the region that would fall under the arc of a North Korean missile."

Britain has expressed strong support for the U.S. position, AP reports.

"We do need internationally to work together to isolate North Korea and to demonstrate that we will not tolerate the way in which they both develop and proliferate weapons of mass destruction," Britain's Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon said while on a two-day visit to Australia. (Call for blockade)

The nuclear dispute flared in October when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted it had a clandestine nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington.

The United States and its allies suspended fuel shipments promised under the 1994 deal, and Pyongyang retaliated by expelling U.N. monitors, restarting frozen nuclear facilities and withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Peaceful solution
Meanwhile, religious leaders from South Korea and the United States were in Washington Wednesday to press lawmakers for a peaceful solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

At the conclusion of a two-day conference with humanitarian groups and scholars, the religious leaders finalized what they call the "Korean Road Map."

It calls for the prompt reconvening of talks with North Korea; the conclusion of a non-aggression pact between Pyongyang and Washington; renouncement of a pre-emptive attack; and the negotiation of a peace treaty that replaces the present Armistice Treaty of 1953, which ended the Korean War.

The document also calls for the establishment of liaison offices between the United States and North Korea as a sign of good faith, and immediate action to address the humanitarian needs of the North Korean people.

"We've been strongly concerned that the foreign policy of this country has moved from diplomacy to pre-emptive strike," said Bob Edgar, a former congressman from Pennsylvania who is now with the National Council of Churches, which organized the conference along with Church World Service, a non-profit aid agency.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell signalled this week that the Bush administration intends to press ahead with plans to impose what amounts to a military blockade of North Koreaan action that threatens to plunge North East Asia into war.

Powell told the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum in Cambodia on Wednesday that there was no issue of greater urgency to the United States than North Koreas nuclear weapons program. Claiming that North Korean missiles posed a threat to every nation in the region, he called on ASEAN leaders to put diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to accede to US demands.

The US, however, is demanding more than sharp diplomatic protests to Pyongyang. North Koreas nuclear program and its so-called weapons of mass destruction has become the pretext for isolating the small, backward country, further crippling its economy and bringing the Stalinist regime to its knees. Powell boasted to reporters that the US had aligned the international community in a way that makes it clear to North Korea that they will not have any support or friends helping them.

The thrust of Washingtons plan was agreed at a little-reported meeting in Madrid last week, which included its military allies in the Iraq warBritain and Australiaas well as Japan, Germany, France and other European countries. The so-called Madrid initiative is a far-reaching proposal to legitimise what previously has been regarded as piracy or an act of warthe interception of ships on the high seas and aircraft in international airspacein the name of halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Few details have been released. But Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed in parliament on Monday that the meeting had agreed on new and imaginative measures that would include the searching of transport planes and vessels and tightening of relevant domestic and international law. We are looking at practical cooperation with key countries to deny North Korea access or further access to weapons of mass destruction material and to deny access to markets as well, he said.

Washingtons uncharacteristic concern for international law follows a highly embarrassing incident last December when Spanish and US warships intercepted a North Korean freighter in international waters in the Arabian Sea. Images of 15 medium-range Scud missiles and conventional warheads discovered by a boarding party were quickly beamed around the world. The US action had all the hallmarks of a provocation linked to its search for a pretext for war against Iraq. But it rapidly fell apart when Yemen, a US ally, claimed the cargo, insisted that the purchase was legal and demanded its release. The Bush administration reluctantly agreed.

The affair highlighted the fact that North Koreas sale of missiles is not illicit trading, as claimed by Downer in the Australian parliament. It is a small part of the huge international arms trade in which US corporations have the lions share. Pyongyangs missile trade is no more illicit than the massive sales of US hi-tech weaponry that the Bush administration actively encourages and promotes. Washington is seeking international agreement to ensure that it determines which weapons shipments are deemed illegal and thus subject to military blockade.

North Korea has reacted angrily to the threat of a US-led military blockade, declaring that it would be an act of war. The country is already in severe economic straits and relies heavily on its missile sales, which are one of its few major sources of foreign revenue. Pyongyangs official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, warned that North Korea would take an immediate physical retaliatory step against the US, once it judges that its sovereignty is infringed by Washingtons blockade operation.

The Stalinist regime has clearly drawn the conclusion from the fate of Iraq that it is futile to try to accommodate to US demands for disarmament. Notwithstanding the fact that Baghdad agreed to the most stringent measures to prove it had no weapons of mass destruction and the UN inspection teams found none, the US still launched its invasion. The Iraqi war proved that disarmament leads to a war, Rodong Sinmun declared, warning: We will step up our efforts to strengthen our nuclear deterrent capabilities as a means of self-defence against the United States.

Powell reacted dismissively to North Koreas statements, declaring: We will not be intimidated by their rhetoric or their actions. He denied that the US had any aggressive intention, asserting that North Korea hides behind the false claim that the United States is threatening to attack it. Even on the face of it, Powells statement is absurd. President Bush and senior US officials have pointedly declared that all options are on the table. The Pentagon has moved two dozen long-range bombers to Guam, within striking distance of North Korea, and sophisticated stealth aircraft to bases in South Korea.

North Korea has repeatedly indicated its willingness to negotiate an end to its nuclear programs if the US signs a non-aggression pact guaranteeing the countrys security. But the Bush administration has denounced such offers as blackmail and refuses to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang. Instead the US is insisting on multilateral diplomacy involving North Koreas neighboursa thinly disguised means for marshalling support from South Korea, Japan and China for punitive measures if North Korea fails to agree to US demands.

The most rightwing sections of the Bush administration openly discuss a military strike on North Korea and the need for regime change in Pyongyang. Just last week Richard Perle, former chairman and now member of the Pentagons Defence Policy Board, publicly questioned Powells strategy of isolating North Korea, indicating that a military attack may be needed. Perle was one of the chief architects of the Iraq invasion.

I dont think anyone can exclude a kind of surgical strike that we saw in 1981 when the Israelis destroyed the Osirik reactor [in Iraq], because they knew that if that reactor went unmolested it would eventually produce nuclear weapons, Perle said. To justify such unprovoked aggression, he baldly asserted, without offering any evidence, that North Korea would be willing to sell nuclear weapons to Al Qaeda and had to be prevented from producing them.

Perles comments reflect the aggressive and reckless approach that the Bush administration has adopted to North Korea since coming to office. Bush abruptly ended the high-level diplomatic contact of the previous Clinton administration and effectively put Pyongyang on notice when he branded North Korea, along with Iraq and Iran, part of an axis of evil in early 2002.

Washington has made great play of the threat posed by North Korean nuclear weapons, which, if they exist at all, are vastly outnumbered by the massive US nuclear arsenal. But it continues to sanction its own use of nuclear weapons. In March last year, portions of the Pentagons Nuclear Posture Review, which were leaked to the press, revealed that the US was prepared to use nuclear weapons against North Korea.

While the World Socialist Web Site gives no political support whatsoever to the Pyongyang regime, North Korea has every right to arm itself, including with nuclear weapons, against the Bush administrations military threats. As in the case of Iraq, North Koreas alleged weapons of mass destruction are nothing but a pretext for Washingtons aggressive stance. North Korea does not have vast reserves of oil and gas, but its strategic location in North East Asia makes it a particularly useful vehicle for Washington to justify a military presence and assert its hegemony in the region, particularly against China.

Washingtons focus at present is on a provocative military blockade. But, as Perles comments make clear, if it fails to achieve its objectives through that method, the Bush administration is prepared to use direct military force.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/kore-j20.shtml

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Libya has been "aggressively pursuing" the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction since the United Nations sanctions against the country were suspended after the Lockerbie trial, America claimed yesterday.

John Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, signalled that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime was once again in Washington's sights.

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America gave notice yesterday that it was ready to act alone against Iran and North Korea if European countries did not co-operate in stopping them from developing nuclear weapons.

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"Noord-Korea heeft kernproeven uitgevoerd"
Noord-Korea is overgegaan tot het uitvoeren van proeven in het kader van zijn nucleair programma. Dat heeft een functionaris van de Zuid-Koreaanse inlichtingendienst woensdag gezegd.

Er zijn ongeveer 70 proeven waargenomen. Volgens de Zuid-Koreaanse inlichtingendienst is Noord-Korea begonnen met het opwerken van radioactieve splijtstof. Daarmee kan voldoende plutonium worden geproduceerd om binnen enkele maanden een half dozijn atoombommen te maken.

Een Noord-Koreaanse regeringsdelegatie is dinsdag in Seoel voor verzoeningsgesprekken met Zuid-Korea. De vijfkoppige delegatie waarschuwde bij haar aankomst evenwel dadelijk voor een atoomoorlog.

Op het Koreaanse schiereiland ontwikkelt zich een uiterst gespannen situatie. Het conflict over het vermeende Noord-Koreaanse atoomprogramma sleept intussen al acht maanden aan.

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SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea's intelligence agency says it believes North Korea has begun reprocessing its stock of spent nuclear fuel rods and testing devices used to trigger nuclear explosions.

According to the agency the North has reprocessed "a small portion" of its estimated supply of 8,000 fuel rods held at its nuclear facility at Yongbyon.

The revelation came Wednesday in a report from the head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to lawmakers in South Korea's National Assembly.

CNN's Seoul Correspondent Sohn Jie-ae said the report was the first confirmation by South Korea of long-standing suspicions from the United States and appeared to signal an agreement between the two countries that North Korea is indeed pushing ahead with efforts to build a nuclear weapon.

Experts say that if successfully extracted, the plutonium inside the spent fuel rods could be enough to produce several nuclear devices within a matter of months.

The devices tested are believed to be high explosives used to trigger a nuclear blast -- a key component in the construction of a working nuclear bomb.

According to the intelligence report, the testing occurred at Yongdok, some 40-kilometers northwest of the Yongbyon complex.

At least 70 such tests have been conducted, the NIS said.

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Op woensdag 12 februari 2003 19:37 schreef Vampier het volgende:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/12/us.nkorea/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States, top U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday.

Ze zeggen dar Irak een bedreiging is voor de wereld-vrede en vooral voor de VS. Maar uiteindelijk is Noord Korea een stuk bedreigender dan Irak.

Ik vraag me af welke dubbelle angende Bush en zijn NWO nu weer in gedachten hebben. Is het oosten van Amerika soms belangrijker dan het westen?

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http://nu.nl/news.jsp?n=174639&c=22

'Atoomplannen N-Korea bewezen, die van Irak niet'

Uitgegeven: 12 juli 2003 10:23
Laatst gewijzigd: 12 juli 2003 10:42

TOKIO/WASHINGTON - De Amerikaanse geheime dienst beschikt over informatie dat het communistische Noord-Korea nucleaire splijtstof aan het opwerken is. Dat Irak atoomplannen had, is echter nooit bewezen. De directeur van de CIA, Tenet, heeft de verantwoordelijkheid op zich genomen voor een omstreden passage in een toespraak van de Amerikaanse president Bush.

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In een bericht wordt meteen gezegd dat de ene infomatie (irak) fout is, maar diezelfde dienst weet dan wel met zekerheid te melden dat NK wel over atoomplannen beschikt. Waarschijnlijk zijn ze daar achter gekomen omdat ze dat lezein in de persberichten die door NK verspreid wordt, dat NK zelf met zulke ontwikkelingen bezig zijn. Net zo betrouwbaar dus als hun eigen informatie.

Ik denk dat we vanaf heden de meeste berichtgeving vanuit amerika met een berg zout moeten gaan nemen.

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Op zaterdag 12 juli 2003 11:09 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

En dit moeten we wel gaan geloven.

In een bericht wordt meteen gezegd dat de ene infomatie (irak) fout is, maar diezelfde dienst weet dan wel met zekerheid te melden dat NK wel over atoomplannen beschikt. Waarschijnlijk zijn ze daar achter gekomen omdat ze dat lezein in de persberichten die door NK verspreid wordt, dat NK zelf met zulke ontwikkelingen bezig zijn. Net zo betrouwbaar dus als hun eigen informatie.

Ik denk dat we vanaf heden de meeste berichtgeving vanuit amerika met een berg zout moeten gaan nemen.

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Op zaterdag 12 juli 2003 23:33 schreef Arvid het volgende:

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Het land heeft het meest uitgekiende tunnelsysteem ter wereld. Meeste wapens en andere chemische goedjes zijn opgeslagen in die tunnels. Sommige legereenheden kunnen zeer snel ondergronds verplaatst worden. Die tunnelkennis hebben ze o.a. opgedaan in Vietnam.
de CIA weet trouwens bar weinig over NK omdat het practisch onmogelijk is agents daar te laten functioneren, die worden zo opgepakt.

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Het NK leger kan dankzij die tunnels opeens vele malen effectiever worden (ondanks de verouderde koude oorlog wapens) tegen het hypermoderne Amerikaanse / Zuidkoreaanse leger.

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The Chinese Government says it has transferred control of its border with North Korea from the police to the People's Liberation Army.

But it is refusing to confirm media reports that it has also sent 150,000 combat troops to the border area in recent weeks.

A number of Hong Kong newspapers have reported that the extra troops were being deployed to seal off the border, and put pressure on the North Korean Government to end its nuclear weapons programme.

According to China's foreign ministry, the change in border command is nothing out of the ordinary, and has in fact been planned for years.

But the timing seems more than a coincidence.

In recent months, China has become much more explicit in demanding that North Korea must end its nuclear weapons programme, and Beijing is growing increasingly frustrated by Pyongyang's intransigence.

Talks hosted by China last month to try and break the deadlock over Pyongyang's weapons programme got nowhere.

Few now doubt that China is actively preparing for every eventuality, including that of a possible North Korean collapse.

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Op maandag 15 september 2003 15:01 schreef BAZZA het volgende:
China is gewoon doodsbang voor een massale toestroom aan vluchtelingen die nu ookal voor veel overlast zorgen in het grensgebied.
Rusland trainde vorige maand ookal in die regio in het omgaan met vluchtelingen dus we kunnen er vanuit gaan dat die de bui al zien hangen

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=443447

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Japan's Defence Minister has stressed his country's right to strike North Korean missile sites if an attack is thought imminent.

In an exclusive interview, Shigeru Ishiba told The Independent: "The Japanese constitution permits my position. Attacking North Korea after a missile attack on Japan is too late. If North Korea orders its military to send a missile to attack Japan and the missile is raised to vertical in preparation for launch, then Japan will assume that an attack has begun and has the right to attack that particular missile launch site. What else can the missile be used for but to attack us?"

Intelligence officials estimate that North Korea has at least 100 Rodong ballistic missiles capable of striking Japan.

Mr Ishiba said: "The threat from North Korea, however, is not just aimed at Japan and the US, it's a problem for the whole world." He insisted his position was a defensive one. The tension was the fault of Pyongyang, he said, for "continuing to develop weapons in violation of their promises. We're just defending ourselves."

Japan is planning to develop a new type of radar to improve its ability to monitor North Korea's missile development, the Kyodo news agency reported yesterday.

The hawkish Mr Ishiba, who has earned a reputation for pushing the limits of Japan's debate on defence since taking office almost a year ago, has made clear he favours a much tougher stance than his predecessors toward Japan's Stalinist neighbour.

He believes that President George Bush's strategy is closer to his own approach, than the strategy of Bill Clinton. "Clinton's policy toward North Korea was based on two false premises: one, that Pyongyang would keep its promises [regarding the 1994 agreement to abandon its nuclear programme]; and two, that North Korea would collapse," he said.

"North Korea neither kept its promises nor collapsed. We are now faced with the consequences."

Earlier this year Mr Ishiba sparked a huge row when he told parliament that it was "worth considering" whether Japan should have an offensive capability, raising the possibility of radical change to its 50-year-old pacifist constitution, which renounces war "for ever". The prospect of a newly aggressive Japan, which already boasts annual military expenditure of almost £25bn - 25 per cent larger than Britain's - worries its neighbours, who have bitter memories of the Second World War.

Mr Ishiba's statements are another sign that Japan is slowly but inexorably moving away from a defence posture that many conservatives view as outdated in the aftermath of the Cold War. A number of senior politicians have recently floated the idea of Japan developing its own nuclear weapons, and in June, a bipartisan defence group of 103 junior politicians called for the government to change its defence-only policy to allow for a "minimum" level of offensive capability to attack an enemy. Under recent legislation, Japanese troops can be sent to Iraq to offer medical and reconstruction assistance, in violation, opponents say, of the constitution.

The Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday that he wanted permanent changes to Article 9 - the section that renounces Japan's right to wage war - which would give the government authority to contribute troops to any international peacekeeping operations. The attack on the Baghdad offices of the UN delayed the dispatch of Japanese troops but Mr Ishiba insisted they would go "when we can ensure their safety". He said: "People are afraid of Japanese troops being killed but war is not a tea party."

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N. Korea: no talks, more nukes

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea said it was taking "practical measures" to boost its nuclear capabilities, reiterating it was no longer interested in holding further negotiations with the United States.

A spokesman of the communist state's Foreign Ministry also told its official news agency KCNA late Monday that if the United States tries to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program before it provides Pyongyang with a nonaggression treaty, it would lead to a "war."

The spokesman did not elaborate on the "practical measures," but the claim came as some U.S. intelligence analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that the communist regime may have three, four or even six nuclear weapons instead of the one or two the CIA now estimates.

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North Korea said Thursday it has completed reprocessing its 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and is using plutonium extracted from them to make atomic bombs.

"The (North) successfully finished the reprocessing of some 8,000 spent fuel rods," a spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA.

Accusing the United States of taking a "hostile policy" toward the North, the statement said that North Korea "made a switchover in the use of plutonium churned out by reprocessing spent fuel rods in the direction increasing its nuclear deterrent force."

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Op dinsdag 22 april 2003 21:20 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Zodra de VS in de buurt een troepenmacht gaat opbouwen schiet Noord Korea daar een stapel raketten op af. De enige plek waar dat namelijk kan (Zuid Korea) ligt ruim binnen het bereik van Noord Koreaanse raketten. Als Noord Korea een barrage van die korte afstands raketten afschiet hoeven ze alleen maar te wachten tot de voorraad Patriots op is. En dan een raket met een nuke afschieten.

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Op donderdag 2 oktober 2003 16:51 schreef Piro het volgende:
Een IRBM of ICBM gaat veel te snel voor Patriots.
Een Patriot gaat met ca Mach 3 de lucht in, een ICBM met Mach 23, dus een salvo raketten hoeft niet eens.

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ook een niet nuclaire oorlog is Nkorea geen partij,de lucht macht van de Amerikanen is vele male sterker en groter dan die van de N koreanen die oude migs worden zo uit de lucht geknald en USA kan 2000 gevechtvlieg tuigen in zetten , F15, F16, en F18 , + B2en b52 bommenwerpers,
MAARR het is natuulijk wel een feit dat het een zwaardere oorlog wordt dan met Irak.. want Noord korea is vele malen sterker dan irak,maar nadat ze de migs hebben uitgeschakeld en het grond afweer geschut met 5000 pounders vanuit B2 bommenwerpers
, zullen ze vast een massale MOAB aanval uitvoeren en dan is het ook einde verhaal Nkorea>:)

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Op zondag 5 oktober 2003 17:49 schreef robin_A het volgende:
Noord korea is GEEN partij voor Amerika in een nuclaire oorlog...
de amerikanen hebben in die oceanen voor de zekerheid Nuclaire submarines liggen in die in 1 x 100 kernkoppen kunnen afvuren en dan is het einde verhaal voor Nkorea...

ook een niet nuclaire oorlog is Nkorea geen partij,de lucht macht van de Amerikanen is vele male sterker en groter dan die van de N koreanen die oude migs worden zo uit de lucht geknald en USA kan 2000 gevechtvlieg tuigen in zetten , F15, F16, en F18 , + B2en b52 bommenwerpers,
MAARR het is natuulijk wel een feit dat het een zwaardere oorlog wordt dan met Irak.. want Noord korea is vele malen sterker dan irak,maar nadat ze de migs hebben uitgeschakeld en het grond afweer geschut met 5000 pounders vanuit B2 bommenwerpers
, zullen ze vast een massale MOAB aanval uitvoeren en dan is het ook einde verhaal Nkorea>:)

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Dus jouw fantasieverhaaltje gaat niet zomaar op.....

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Op dinsdag 7 oktober 2003 12:09 schreef Arvid het volgende:

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Amerika zal winnen maar tegen welke kost?
Vergeet niet dat in tijden van oorlog Noord-Korea zo een leger van zeker 2 miljoen soldaten op kan trommelen. Bovendien hebben ze de grootste special forces divisies in de wereld.
Veel dingen verplaatsen zich onder de grond, wat Amerika helemaal niet kan bombarderen. Tevens heeft Noord-Korea al 2 atoombommen (bron; CIA), wie weet wat ze nog meer hebben.

Dus jouw fantasieverhaaltje gaat niet zomaar op.....

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ook is het niet te garanderen tot hoever ze zullen gaan (en of ze wel zullen gaan) in een daadwerkelijke oorlog tegen een sterkere tegenstander.

als er in groots (liefst VN) verband wordt aangevallen kun je er zo 1 miljoen beroepssoldaten tegenover zetten ... dan is het feest snel afgelopen

en als Noord-Korea zo makkelijk te verslaan is, waarom valt Amerika dan niet aan? (ze willen niets liever)

antwoord: De Amerikaanse legertop weet wel beter.

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Op dinsdag 7 oktober 2003 16:39 schreef Arvid het volgende:
in de jaren '50 hadden de USA en VN ook een technisch overwicht maar toch werden ze het land uitgekickt.....

en als Noord-Korea zo makkelijk te verslaan is, waarom valt Amerika dan niet aan? (ze willen niets liever)

antwoord: De Amerikaanse legertop weet wel beter.

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Rumsfeld Company Sold Nuclear Weapon Equipment to North Korea

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld served on the board of a Swiss company that in 2000 sold light water nuclear reactors to the government of North Korea, which criticsincluding Pentagon hardlinerssay could be used to produce nuclear weapons.

Rumsfelds involvement in the $200 million deal with the Zurich-based engineering company ABB is seen as an embarrassment to the Bush administration, which vehemently opposed the deal during the 2000 presidential campaign, reports the London-based Guardian. One could draw the conclusion that economic and personal interests took precedent over non-proliferation, said Steve LaMontagne of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Rumsfeld sat on the ABB board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. He left to join the Bush administration. Asked about the reactor deal, the defense secretary told the Guardian that he did not recall it being brought before the board at any time.

But an ABB spokesman said that board members were informed about the project which would deliver systems and equipment for light water reactors, and the Guardian noted that at the time of the deal, ABBs chief executive Goran Lindahl made a high-profile trip to Pyongyang to announce a wide-ranging, long-term cooperation agreement with the North Korean government.

The ABB deal was part of the Clinton administrations policy of stabilizing the region by offering North Korea oil and light water reactors in exchange for access by inspectors to the governments atomic facilities. The policy was vehemently opposed by George W. Bush and his foreign policy advisorsincluding Rumsfelds deputy, Paul Wolfowitzwho argued that the light water reactors could produce weapons-grade plutonium.

And despite placing North Korea in its Axis of Evil, the Bush administration apparently has fewer concerns about ABBs reactors now that Rummys running things at the Pentagon. In January, the president authorized $3.5 million to keep the project going.