Tuesday, 17 March 2015
(Yonhap Interview) Uranium bombs expected to account for 60 percent of N.K.'s nuclear arsenal: think tank chief 2015/03/15 09:56 TweetFacebook ShareGoogle +1 ReduceEnlargePrint By Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON, March 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is estimated to have up to nine nuclear weapons built with highly enriched uranium, and uranium bombs could account for up to 60 percent of the North's nuclear arsenal feared to grow to up to 100 weapons in five years, an American expert said. David Albright, a top nuclear expert who heads the Institute for Science and International Security think tank, spoke about the forecast in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, saying highly enriched uranium is easier to make than weapons-grade plutonium.
Proposed Talk between North & South Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Thursday proposed the “highest-level” talks with South Korea, opening the way to a historic summit as his communist country battles to fend off UN prosecution over its human rights record.
The sudden move, made during Kim’s traditional New Year message, would clear the path for the first inter-Korean leaders’ meeting since a 2007 summit in Pyongyang.
“Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks,” Kim said in the televised speech, calling for a thaw in icy relations between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
Seoul welcomed the overture as “meaningful”, coming after the North’s state media had previously used sexist and personal language in attacks on South Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-Hye.
Park has repeatedly said the door to dialogue with Pyongyang is open, but insists the North must first take tangible steps towards abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.
“Our government hopes South and North Korea will hold dialogue without further ado in the near future,” Ryoo Kihl-Jae, the South’s unification minister in charge of inter-Korean affairs, told a briefing.
Any talks should feature “practical and frank discussions on all issues of mutual concern”, he said.
Kim also urged Washington to take a “bold shift” in its policy towards Pyongyang and denounced the United States for leading an international campaign over the North’s dismal human rights record.
“The US and its followers are holding on to a nasty ‘human rights’ racket, as their schemes to destroy our self-defensive nuclear deterrent and stifle our republic by force become unrealisable,” he said.
He described nuclear weapons as the guardian of his country and vowed to sternly retaliate against “any provocations” threatening its dignity.
Pyongyang faces growing pressure over its rights record, with the UN stepping up a campaign to refer the North’s leaders to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The isolated nation, meanwhile, experienced an internet outage last month after Washington vowed retaliation over a crippling cyber attack blamed on North Korea against Sony, the studio behind a controversial film about a fictional plot to assassinate Kim.
A US State Department official said after Kim’s speech: “We support improved inter-Korean relations.”
Kim said in his message that Pyongyang “will make every effort to advance dialogue and negotiations”, adding that the “tragic” division of the Korean peninsula should not be tolerated.
The leader’s tone was generally conciliatory, but he made it clear that South Korea should end its periodic joint military exercises with the United States.
“Needless to say, faithful dialogue is not possible in such a brutal atmosphere that war exercises targeting the other side are going on,” Kim said.
The last round of high-level negotiations was held in February and resulted in the North hosting a rare union of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The two Koreas agreed to restart dialogue when a top-ranking North Korean delegation made a surprise visit to the Asian Games held in the South in October.
The trip raised hopes of a thaw in relations, but was followed by minor military clashes along the border that renewed tensions and talks never materialised.
Analysts said Kim was extending an olive branch after realising that Pyongyang could not end its isolation without first improving ties with Seoul.
“North Korea opted for a practical line after facing up to reality, because it is now difficult to improve ties with the United States and other countries,” Yoo Ho-Yeol, a Korea University professor, said.
Kim’s New Year message, which sets the direction of policy for the coming year, also focused on improving living standards in North Korea, which suffers chronic food shortages.
His father and late leader Kim Jong-Il, who died in December 2011, left a country in dire economic straits, the result of a “military first” policy that fed ambitious missile and nuclear programmes at the expense of a malnourished population.
Kim also used his message to urge North Koreans to work harder in strengthening the country’s military capabilities through the development of “powerful advanced” weapons.
Under the younger Kim’s leadership, North Korea has placed a satellite in orbit and conducted its third - and most powerful - nuclear test.
Monday, 16 March 2015
John Fitzpatrick's one philosophical quote for 2015
"In each and every certain decision, whether of economic, emotional, intellectual or spiritual milieu, allow the gravity of a modicum of doubt. The gravity of doubt, as it develops, over all, across the full human life span, will serve you much better than the stark certainty of clear decisions ever will. The doubt regarding certainty, along the way, will also make you a much better and more fulfilled human being."
the previous statement of Mishima reflects the brilliance of Anarcharsis who wrote so well about the necessity for Human Anarchy. Anarcharsis, of course, is the same man who created the design of the modern ship's anchor two thousand years ago.
"human law is a spider's web that will only trap the weak and stupid whilst the strong and powerful will break through every time."
a terrorist is someone who loses the first childish battle against the state. history teaches us that they will have a good chance of winning the next battle.
My favourite quote from Yukio Mishima, the so very Japan-Shinto-centric literature genius.
He'd make a damn good terrorist now. He was the greatest writer in Japan and was honoured as such. How things change to suit the flexible appropriate morality of our foolish times.
I like Mishima. His mind and his literary contribution were of a magnificent standard to go well beyond winning the Nobel Prize, but they wouldn't ever give it to him, & even now, posthumously, they wont ever give it to him and simply because he loved his Emperor, his Nation, Japan, and he loved and rejoiced in its intrinsically pure meaning far, far too much. he's the best writer Japan has ever produced and yet his contribution to world literature is seen as basically bad even now because we don't like what he said and felt as a person, as one of us.
"Border Control for the Human Consciousness". Some of us call it 'Mindfulness'.
Now, back to the cleaning of the apartment.
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