<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Left faces acid tests, keeps mum on N Korea </b>
Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
Strange as it might seem that the CPI(M) despite its professed ideology of universal nuclear disarmament, hasn't come up with any official reaction on North Korea's nuclear test.
Though the Left, as a whole wants universal nuclear disarmament, the Left refusal to react to North Korea's tests have raised the eyebrows of the political observers here.
Incidentally,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> the Left leaders in both CPI(M) and CPI had opposed the second Pokran nuclear tests in 1998 saying it would put Pakistan on nuclear path and signaled a clear deviation from New Delhi's Non-Aligned Movement ideology.</span>
Speaking to this reporter, CPI(M) leader and party's Central Committee member Nilotpal Basu said: "We have decided not give any official reaction on the issue."
Earlier, speaking to The Pioneer,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> CPI's national secretary D Raja said: "When we did not support India's nuclear experiments in Pokhran, you don't expect us to support North Korea's tests because they are a communist state, but we have not made any official reaction on the issue."</span>
However, Raja blamed US for infusing the weaker states to go nuclear as it helped any nuclear powered states to enjoy protection from Washington's aggression and aggressive foreign policy.
<b>"You need to go to the roots and know why and how the American administration wants to divide the world into nuclear haves and have-not States," </b>Raja said.
However, <b>what seems to have pushed the Left big brothers to share the blame of being soft on this issue is that their eloquent silence would be seen as their soft attitude towards a Communist state given the track record of Left always taking up international events as national issues.</b>
Whether it was Israel's bombing of Lebanon or US-UK misdemeanour in Iraq or Iran's right to nuclear power development, the Left not only took up these issues but also forced the UPA to take a stance.
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<b>Kim's message: War is coming to US soil</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The first message is that Kim Jong-il is the greatest of the peerless national heroes Korea has ever produced. Kim is unique in that he is the first to equip Korea with sufficient military capability to take the war all the way to the continental US. Under his leadership the DPRK has become a nuclear-weapons state with intercontinental means of delivery. Kim is certainly in the process of achieving the long-elusive goal of neutralizing the American intervention in Korean affairs and bringing together North and South Korea under the umbrella of a confederated state.
<b>Unlike all the previous wars Korea fought, a next war will be better called the American War or the DPRK-US War because the main theater will be the continental US, with major cities transformed into towering infernos. The DPRK is now the fourth-most powerful nuclear weapons state just after the US, Russia, and China.
The DPRK has all types of nuclear bombs and warheads, atomic, hydrogen and neutron, and the means of delivery, short-range, medium-range and long-range, putting the whole of the continental US within effective range. The Korean People's Army also is capable of knocking hostile satellites out of action.</b>
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<b>Quake raises fears of 2nd N. Korea test</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->UNITED NATIONS - A strong earthquake in northern Japan on Wednesday may have led the Tokyo government to suspect    North Korea had conducted a second nuclear test, while key powers mulled punitive action against the communist nation for its first atomic blast.
In Washington, White House spokesman Blair Jones said U.S. officials had not detected any evidence of additional North Korea testing
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->N. Korea air sample has no radioactivity
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 37 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Results from an initial air sampling after
North Korea's announced nuclear test showed no evidence of radioactive particles that would be expected from a successful nuclear detonation, <b>a U.S. government intelligence official </b>said Friday.
The test results do not necessarily mean the North Korean blast was not a nuclear explosion, <b>the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the sampling results.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>US demands the closure of 'cash cow' projects for Kim</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THE United States and South Korea are on a collision course over sanctions against North Korea because <b>Seoul refuses to close projects that are channelling money to Kim Jong Il.
Condoleezza Rice will press South Korea to halt operations at two symbols of cross-border co-operation today. The Kaesong industrial complex and the Mount Kumgang tourist resort are a few miles north of the border dividing the neighbours</b>.
Both are funded by the South Korean Government and the huge Hyundai conglomerate, and are intended to build co- operation and trust between North and South. <b>But the US, backed by Japan, believes that the projects â Mount Kumgang in particular â are cash cows for Mr Kim. The hiking resort âseems to be designed to give money to the North Korean authoritiesâ, </b>Christopher Hill, the chief US diplomat on the North Korean crisis, said.
The controversy has caused deep divisions within South Korea between conservatives who hate the idea of rewarding a country that is building nuclear weapons and liberals who believe engagement is the only way to bring North Korea out of its xenophobic isolation.
Kim Hyung O, leader of the South Korean Opposition, said yesterday: â<b>The Governmentâs position that it will maintain the projects is tantamount to letting the North take the South Korean people hostage.â</b>
<b>'We Are a Nuclear Power' </b>
<i>The weird and scary saga of how an isolated, bankrupt nation went nuclearâand how the United States failed to stop it.</i>
By Michael Hirsh, Melinda Liu and George Wehrfritz
Newsweek
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> Use of weird reminds me:
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"
Hunter S. Thompson
<b>Report: N. Korean leader regrets test </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country's nuclear test to a Chinese delegation and said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if Washington backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.
"If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks," Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.
Kim told the Chinese delegation that "he is sorry about the nuclear test," the newspaper reported.
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<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
He thinks world is full of fools. This man is very clever. He is playing his cards very well. With full backing of China, he is on top of world. China is enjoying his gift to NK with popcorns.
North Korean vessel MV-Omranili, on its way to Iran, detained after it âstraysâ into Indian waters
Mumbai Mirror Bureau
A North Korean freighter, MV-Omranili, which was on its way to Iran âfound itselfâ in Indian waters after an âengine failureâ and has been detained in Mumbai. The Coast Guard, the Bombay Port Trust, the Indian Navy and the Mumbai Customs have formed separate teams to inspect the freighter and find out if it is carrying any arms or ammunition and the reason behind its voyage to Iran.
Coming close on the heels of the nuclear tests conducted by North Korea recently, the âstrayingâ of the vessel into Indian waters and its subsequent detention assumes significance. Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources at Mumbai Customs House and the Coast Guard said the shipâs crew members have failed to provide any convincing replies about the purpose of their journey to Iran.
âWhat is most suspicious is the fact that though it is a cargo ship, they are not carrying any consignment or goods,â said a Coast Guard officer. The authorities are now examining the freighter to find if any contraband is hidden somewhere.
The freighter was first spotted in the Indian waters on October 29. The Coast Guard immediately swung into action and escorted the freighter to the Bombay docks. When questioned, the crew members told the Coast Guard they were on their way to Bandar Abbas in Iran and strayed into the Indian waters as the engine had developed a snag.
Since North Korea is suspected of supplying missile technology and nuclear components to Iran in the past, the Indian authorities are examining the ship closely. While interrogation of the 12 North Korean crew members is still on, the language is proving to be a major hurdle. âThey donât understand English at all. But we are trying our best to find out the purpose of their visit to Iran since there is no conspicuous cargo onboard,â said an officer.
This is the second time a North Korean vessel has been detained by the Indian authorities. A North Korean freighter, Koowolsanho, detained off the Kandla Port in Gujarat in 1999, had yielded equipment for the production of missiles intended for Pakistan. The seized vessel included 148 boxes, declared as machines and water-refining equipment, but intended for the production of tactical surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 300 km.
In addition to being a recipient of technology for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, North Korea is also said to have supplied ballistic missiles and its production technology to other states, mainly Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Libya.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> Use of weird reminds me: