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  1. #1
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    Default Why North Korea is destroying its nuclear test site

    North Korea has said it will start dismantling its nuclear test site this week, in a ceremony to be attended by foreign journalists. But what would it take for the country to truly "denuclearise"?

    In the mountainous north-east of North Korea lies Pyongyang's nuclear test facility - the Punggye-ri complex.

    It has been used for six nuclear tests since 2006, but North Korea says "technical measures" to dismantle it will be carried out between 23 and 25 May.
    North Korea has said it is committed to denuclearisation, but has threatened to pull out of forthcoming talks with US President Donald Trump, in a disagreement over how that might happen.
    At first glance, Pyongyang's pledge to close the test site appears to be a welcome first step.
    But it could indicate that it believes its nuclear programme has made sufficient progress and full testing is no longer needed. North Korea's nuclear weapons programme also goes far beyond the existence of one site.
    The Punggye-ri nuclear facility is the dedicated test site for North Korea's nuclear weapons, with a system of tunnels dug below nearby Mount Mantap. It has been suggested the site has partially collapsed already.
    Image copyrightPLANET LABS INCImage captionA satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North KoreaPyongyang says inviting foreign observers - South Korean and international journalists - to see the tunnels being collapsed and observation facilities removed will show its work in a "transparent manner".
    But it is not clear that experts have been invited as well - a measure that is necessary for the process to be properly assessed.
    Inviting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) would allow confirmation that the test site is no longer capable of conducting nuclear tests.
    The organisation, a UN-backed monitoring group that aims to ban nuclear tests worldwide, maintains a network of sensors to ensure that none is being conducted.
    Its experts would be able to give a technical judgement about the completeness of the test site destruction.


    Analysts will be looking for the collapse of the available test tunnels at Punggye-ri and removal of monitoring facilities.
    After the ceremony, satellite imagery will be used by governments and independent experts to monitor for activity, new buildings and equipment, which might indicate that North Korea plans to resume testing.
    Satellite imagery may not help if North Korea clandestinely opens a new nuclear test site. It has many other mountains that could be used.
    But if that were the case, it would be unable to hide any new underground tests, as the resulting seismic tremors would be detected.E
    Closing the site would only be a first step towards full denuclearisation.
    It also has a range of facilities that allows it to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium - the fissile materials needed for a nuclear weapon.
    Among these are several uranium mines, as well as centrifuges, nuclear reactors and reprocessing facilities at its main nuclear facility - the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
    In addition, it has the means of delivery for weapons - an intercontinental ballistic missile programme.
    However, earlier this year a thaw in relations on the Korean peninsula saw North Korea announce it was halting all missile and nuclear testing.
    Pyongyang's commitment to "denuclearisation" is likely to differ from Washington's long-standing demand for "comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible" nuclear disarmament (CVID).
    However, even stopping short of this, there are precedents that could help reduce instability.
    In 1994, the Agreed Framework saw North Korea halt its nuclear programme, in return for heavy fuel oil and two light-water nuclear reactors.
    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - which oversees the use of nuclear technology - successfully carried out inspections to verify that North Korea was not diverting nuclear material for weapons production.
    Inspections at the Yongbyon nuclear complex were a prominent part of the Agreed Framework and a cooling tower for a nuclear reactor used to produce plutonium was destroyed.
    However, this was not irreversible and in 2002, following the collapse of the agreement, Pyongyang announced it was reactivating Yongbyon. An admission that it had produced nuclear weapons for "self defence" followed in 2005.

    Any future denuclearisation agreement would require an extraordinary amount of access for inspectors.
    Destruction of the Punggye-ri test site may take a matter of weeks, but verifying the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons infrastructure would take years.
    There are many ways in which the process could go awry.
    More stories like this:


    Comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament requires continuing monitoring of any remaining nuclear facilities.
    Inspectors would need to be able to access declared facilities and they would need to monitor for clandestine sites.
    Even then, there is little that can be done to undo the substantial expertise - both technical and scientific - that North Korea has acquired over the past decades.
    The physical infrastructure doesn't need to survive for the underlying knowledge to remain.
    Without continuous intrusive monitoring by international inspectors, North Korea could restart its nuclear weapons programme within a matter of years.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44168320

    Maybe I'm losing it. There's a lot of good info in the article, but the header states is is going to say "why" and I don't see the "why".
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    "But it could indicate that it believes its nuclear programme has made sufficient progress and full testing is no longer needed. "

    ^^^ That is the card that Kim is playing, I believe. We can't trust him unless we have inspectors watching every move to finally denuclearize NK.

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    Or it could be that that particular nuclear test site was ruined by testing in the first place and it was basically useless already.

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    Quote Originally Posted by High_Plains_Drifter View Post
    Or it could be that that particular nuclear test site was ruined by testing in the first place and it was basically useless already.
    Just to be clear, I don't like Un, and I don't like North Korea. I don't even like South Korea. The place sucks. So I haven't decided to have some sudden love affair with Kim jong Un and North Korea.

    My argument is about knowing when to get your foot out of the guy's ass you already pinned to floor and giving him a chance to make good on his word instead of just shoving it further up his ass.

    The test facilities and inspections are going to be the same in NK as in Iran as in anywhere else. If we're going to play the same circle jerk we did in Iran and claim he's not adhering to it then why bother wasting the time and money to begin with? I don't care if we blow Iran AND North Korea off the map, but if we're going to, quit bullshitting around while this guy plays us on the world stage and do it.

    If we're going for the deal, then draw back the fangs and use some diplomacy. You know ... tact and all that civilian diplomatic bullshit. A kid with a crayon could do better than what I've seen. Hell, I could do better and my idea of diplomacy is blowing your shit up.

    I just found it interesting that the article said it was going to say "why" and didn't.
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    No peace prize for Trump

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    Quote Originally Posted by pete311 View Post
    No peace prize for Trump
    Do you think if he put on blackface and started chanting "Si se puede!" the Noble Committee might reconsider?

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    Quote Originally Posted by pete311 View Post
    No peace prize for Trump
    You certainly do make some STUPID comments.

    Your leftist hack TDS is showing... on STEROIDS.
    Last edited by High_Plains_Drifter; 05-24-2018 at 12:59 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by pete311 View Post
    No peace prize for Trump

    Any sort of respect that the prize commanded was eliminated with 0bama's award. It was previously sullied with Gore's award, but 0bama's prize was the double-tap.

    I'm pretty sure that Trump will decline it just to prove that point.
    Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum

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    Quote Originally Posted by NightTrain View Post
    Any sort of respect that the prize commanded was eliminated with 0bama's award. It was previously sullied with Gore's award, but 0bama's prize was the double-tap.

    I'm pretty sure that Trump will decline it just to prove that point.
    It was done with me when they gave it to Yassir Arafat.
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
    It was done with me when they gave it to Yassir Arafat.
    Aside from that oddity, I bet Neville chamberlain was nominated for several peace prizes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by High_Plains_Drifter View Post
    You certainly do make some STUPID comments.

    Your leftist hack TDS is showing... on STEROIDS.
    He keeps tampax in business all by himself.

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  17. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
    It was done with me when they gave it to Yassir Arafat.

    Crap, I forgot about that!

    Yeah, that was nauseating.
    Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum

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    I think it's pretty well established by now that the noble peace prize is a partisan farce.

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