North Korea Rattles The Sabers Again; This Time More Forcefully

North Korea is behaving like a spoiled child again, as Israel vs. Gaza is taking up headline space that the Dear Leader would love to have. Remember, Barack Obama promised to sit down with Kim Jong Il, or whomever is really in charge, and have a little Kumbayah time! Obama’s hogging too much media right now as well with his (currently) $170 million dollar ~~Coronation~~ Inauguration. Kim could show him how it’s done with the Mass Gymnastics! (Click it. You will not believe your eyes.)

Sooo, North Korea upped the ante Saturday by having a military guy, flanked by colorful military unit flags, read the statement instead of the usual television newsreader. Usually, these types of threats from North Korea are just loud bleats for more handouts…as Kim is still starving his people. This time, however, the threats may be more serious. North Korea almost certainly has the material and ability to make at least 4 nukes, and the nutbags in charge are….nutbags.

North Korea issued a statement pledging “an all-out confrontational posture.” It’s Korean People’s Army called South Korea’s president a “traitor” and accused him of preparing a military provocation, according to a report on Saturday by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said the North’s latest saber-rattling could be a negotiating tactic aimed at Seoul and Washington ahead of the Tuesday inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

South Korea, the U.S. and three other nations have sought to coax North Korea, which detonated an atomic device in 2006, into abandoning its nuclear program by offering aid for disarmament. The negotiations have been deadlocked over how to verify North Korea’s past nuclear activities.

Fox News reports that an American nuclear expert said on Saturday, following a trip to the North, that Pyongyang told him it has “weaponized” 67.8 pounds of plutonium into warheads. That much plutonium would produce four to five warheads, depending on the grade of plutonium, the specific weapons design and the desired explosive yield, said Selig Harrison, director of the Washington-based Center for International Policy’s Asia program. He said all the four senior Pyongyang officials he met, including Li Gun, the Foreign Ministry official in charge of dealings with Washington, said plutonium was now out of bounds of inspections intended to advance the now-stalled six-party disarmament talks. Not good.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean military has been put on increased alert after the DPRK army spokesman released a statement through DPRK’s television networks Saturday about the “all-out confrontational posture.” South Korean officials told local media they are taking the DPRK’s threat seriously and are preparing for “all possibilities.” There are new reports that North Korea is warning it’s citizens who live near the demilitarized zone to leave.

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