Obama’s Response to NK Nuclear Weapons Test (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
North Korea claimed today it tested a nuclear weapon as powerful as the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. South Korean officials confirmed a tremor consistent with an underground nuclear explosion:
“Russian defence experts estimated the explosion’s yield at between 10 and 20 kilotons, many times more than the 1 kiloton measured in its first nuclear test in 2006 and about as powerful as the bombs the US used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war. One kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tonnes of TNT.
The force of the blast made the ground tremble in the Chinese border city of Yanji, 130 miles away.”
Barack Obama issued two statements in response to North Korea’s claim. The first was an early morning written statement that called North Korea’s action “a blatant violation of international law.”
Later, in an oral statement at the White House, Obama said North Korea’s act poses “a grave threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action.” Obama also questioned the wisdom of North Korea’s actions:
“In his statement in the White House Rose Garden, he noted that the latest tests had drawn scorn around the world. Pyongyang’s actions “have flown in the face of U.N. resolutions” and had deepened its isolation, he said, “inviting stronger international pressure.”
“North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons,” the president said. “We will work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behavior. The United States will never waver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world.”
North Korea’s leadership (whether it’s Kim Jong Il or someone else) is unpredictable and has never shown much interest in gaining respect from America or the West. However, I think North Korea does want attention it can use to extort or wheedle concessions.
As for security, did Barack Obama just indirectly threaten a military response?
The Bush Administration and its international partners ultimately granted concessions to North Korea based on its promise to participate in phased denuclearization. After reading Obama’s statements today and the positions of his State Department, as well as noting his recent willingness to follow Bush policies in other foreign matters, I suspect Barack Obama will do the same. Whether it will work out any better for Obama than it did for Bush is a separate question.
UPDATE: A post and website whose author has far better insight into Korea than I do.
— DRJ
I thought Madeline Albright solved this problem?
Good thing that awful cowboy Bush is no longer President, right? It’s really good to have someone experienced in this subject at the helm!
Maybe he’ll offer NK some stimulus money.
Eric Blair (0793db) — 5/25/2009 @ 1:53 pmIt is hard to believe that Obama’s inauguration did not solve this issue by itself. The One’s new and Changed rhetoric must not be able to penetrate into North Korean airspace.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:01 pmKoreans are strong and brave people, it is unwise to confront them with hollow words and implied threats. They can tell the difference between a bluff and the real thing.
Koreans respect only the ability to destroy combined with the willingness to do so. Engage them at your peril.
Ropelight (e36d4f) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:02 pm“Kim, if you don’t stop this immediately, I’m going to hold my breath until I turn blue!”
AD - RtR/OS! (f03f38) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:08 pm…White House Press Release
I’ve updated the post to link to One Free Korea.
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:25 pmBefore these four years are over, I predict we’ll be missing the golden age of Jimmy Carter.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:26 pmNK is still clenching their fists, so Obama must not be talking nice enough to them.
Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:28 pm“As for security, did Barack Obama just indirectly threaten a military response?”
Of course not. The most he’s contemplating is having someone file a complaint with a subcommittee at the UN to be discussed and promptly forgotten.
Federal Dog (8cd1b8) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:31 pmBefore these four years are over, I predict we’ll be missing the golden age of Jimmy Carter.
That’s a frightening thought, SPQR.
Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:33 pmKoreans respect only the ability to destroy combined with the willingness to do so. Engage them at your peril.
Oh PUHLEZE Ropelight. The issue isn’t the Korean people, it is the schizophrenic rulers of North Korea “Dear Leader” and folks like him. Anyone that has to be called dear leader has got some absolutely significant penis issues let alone being a short nincompoop.
I suggest a Seal Team insertion armed with a couple of .50 cal sniper rifles and take that nutcase down.
GM Roper (85dcd7) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:39 pmI don’t agree that the South Koreans are people that strike fear into anyone’s hearts, especially the North Korean military. Remember that only a few years ago there were massive protests about the evil US presence on their shores, and if we’d only take all of our troops away from the 49th – Parallel there’d be peace at last. Funny thing, though – when we finally called their bluff after decades of this rampant asshattery, they suddenly changed their tune and begged us to stay. Feckless and gutless – it’s still primarily our own troops that will be killed if NK decides to invade, not their own.
Dmac (1ddf7e) — 5/25/2009 @ 2:51 pm“Goldfinger, do you expect me to talk?”
Horatio (e2e328) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:21 pmNo Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”
Why did NK build so many nuclear weapons during th e (W) Bush presidency?
Andrew (39a8a6) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:42 pmtesting.
Andrew (39a8a6) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:43 pmI don’t understand the big deal, NK will never dare use any of it’s nukes. It will be like committing suicide, it’s just a show by a dictator who want to show his starving nation that he is doing something to combat the west while in fact his loves to watch E!
Breckenridge (c9f41c) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:49 pmAndrew, because Clinton’s failed “deal” allowed them to produce so much weapons grade material.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:51 pmDmac, not entirely true. South Korea has the bulk of armed forces. US forces are pretty small currently, basically an understrength infantry division plus army level logistical support. The South Korean army roughly 20 times larger.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 3:58 pmWhat did we do to make them mad?? I think an apology is in order.
Do the dimwits who are in control of our country have any clue about the real world??
gus (b1a191) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:01 pmVDH has an interesting look at the quandary Obama finds himself in with dealing with NK (and the other lunatic fringe dweller, Iran)-
Any decision he [Obama] makes will be evaluated not necessarily on the basis of its superior logic or the eloquence with which it is presented, but solely on whether it works or not. If it does, he will be praised; if it doesn’t, he will be damned, unfairly or not.
The bottom line says it all, unfortunately we don’t yet know whether Obama understands this or is so lost in his hype that he will put us at further peril,
Neither Ahmadinejad nor Kim Jong-il care a whit about Obama’s landmark advance to the presidency, or his sober and judicious efforts to show rational concern for their own predicaments; instead, they calibrate only the degree to which Obama poses an obstacle to their regional ambitions, whether they be rational or not.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:01 pmLet’s not forget Clinton’s failed bribe attempts as well. Let’s hope Obama keeps doing the right thing and ignores the problem. This isn’t anything different from what they tried to do in 2006. If it gets serious, let China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea step up and help resolve this thing, they’d be in far more danger than we’d be…
The Hegemonist (20ee4e) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:09 pmBreckenridge, North Korea has already seen perhaps as many as a million of its citizens starve to death in the last decade or two as a result of North Korea’s policies. Why you would think that national suicide would daunt its leadership is more than a bit baffling to me.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:12 pmWhy did NK build so many nuclear weapons during th e (W) Bush presidency?
Because NK cheated on their non-proliferation agreement made during the Clinton Presidency? Which Madeline Albright finally admitted in 2006?
Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:15 pmWhy did NK build so many nuclear weapons during the (W) Bush presidency?
Uh, how many nuclar weapons DID they build during the Bush presidency… For all we know, and probably most likely, they restarted the program after 2006 when the Democrats took over Congress.
Implicit, in your sarcastic question is that NK began building nukes because of the cowboy diplomacy of the Bush administration. If that was true, how do you explain a nuke and missile test in the short few months that Pres. Obama has been in power.
JFH (3addfc) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:22 pmAs for security, did Barack Obama just indirectly threaten a military response?
And what is wrong with that? He needs to show his willingness to respond through any means necessary. I think a military response would be appropriate at this point. Talking doesn’t work with these idiots.
The Emperor (09c9e3) — 5/25/2009 @ 4:59 pmTalking is what Teh One does, lovie.
And Andrew is dummerer than a sack of Andrews.
JD (2c0fe3) — 5/25/2009 @ 5:08 pmI go away for the weekend and this happens ! What have you people been doing ? Do I have to be responsible for everything ?
I was loading my car today after returning from the island and I noticed the car next to mine. From the license plate, it seems to be the commodore of the yacht club’s car, a huge Ford Excursion. In the back window is an Obama sticker. I was really shocked.
What would a yacht club commodore with a giant SUV be doing with an Obama sticker ? I can think of only two explanations: his kids did it as a joke or he is a trial lawyer (sorry DRJ). There is another possibility, I suppose. A union president.
Anyway, I’m in the middle of a Pauline Kael joke. How could Obama be elected because no one I can think of (at least driving an SUV) would vote for him ?
For those innocent souls who wonder what NK will do with nuclear weapons; they will sell them. They’ve been doing that and this was an advertisement;
New models now in stock !”
Mike K (2cf494) — 5/25/2009 @ 5:14 pmMike K,
No offense taken. I agree that trial lawyers apparently support Obama no matter where they live, but they aren’t the only ones. I live in a conservative town and I was very surprised to see an Obama sticker on a top-of-the-line SUV driven by the owner of a large local business. Her support for Obama makes no sense from an economic standpoint, and my best guess is that it is based on faith that Obama will deliver on his promises.
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/25/2009 @ 5:29 pmThis will probably shock the Japanese in to action. With Obama as commander in chief for the next four and God forbid the next eight years, I see the emergence of a nuclear armed Japan and a resurgent IJN.
cubanbob (409ac2) — 5/25/2009 @ 5:39 pmKoreans are strong and brave people
Whether the people that are being dealt with are Koreans or not is less crucial than the fact that their leader is a fanatic (ie, Kim Jong Il), a more extremist version of, well, our president’s buddy, Bill Ayers. (However, to give Ayers a bit of benefit of the doubt, I’ll qualify that by saying at least the way he was in his more radical-college-aged years.)
Speaking of leftism, South Koreans a few years ago went through a phase of nonsensical liberalism somewhat similar to what we Americans displayed to the onlooking world in November 2008. South Koreans in 2003 chose a president (Roh Moo-Hyun) who was ideologically sort of like the guy who’s now residing in the White House. Not to mention that when it came to Roh’s claim he’d be an expert at wiping out corruption, he ended up being somewhat reminiscent of another US president — who, as it turns out, also was a registered Democrat — the one who said his administration would be the most ethical in US history—ie, Bill “pardon-Marc-Rich” Clinton.
Mark (411533) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:03 pmIt’ll be interesting (but no surprise) to see who’s going to pony up and make an offer for those nukes. It would seem that there is little anyone, including our president, can do other than basically contain NK because no one wants to do a bit of dirty work. NK knows this. Our president knows this, too.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:08 pmIt’s important that President Obama doesn’t let this minor development distract him from the vital security issues of closing Gitmo and demonizing Bush in every speech.
Terry Gain (6b2a64) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:09 pmSouth Korea has the bulk of armed forces
After I looked it up, that’s correct, and my assumption was wrong. Until about 5 years ago, the US constituted the main bulk of armed services personnel and equipment on the 49th Parallel; since that time we’ve drawn down our forces exponentially. However, my main point still stands – once we called their bluff and started pulling out, despite their howls of protest they were forced to finally defend their own country with their own citizens, and their fabled “Sunshine” policy of trying to deal with NK via reason and offers of economic aid were finally put to rest.
Dmac (1ddf7e) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:11 pmComment by Terry Gain — 5/25/2009 @ 6:09 pm
Heh. You’re right. I guess this isn’t a Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste moment.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:13 pmHer support for Obama makes no sense from an economic standpoint, and my best guess is that it is based on faith that Obama will deliver on his promises.
Our first Faith-Based Presidency™!
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:24 pmI thought once a Democrat was president all dots would finally be connected, what happened?
Topsecretk9 (5bc4d0) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:28 pmComment by Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. — 5/25/2009 @ 6:24 pm
Wrong thread, Brother Fikes?
The Emperor (09c9e3) — 5/25/2009 @ 6:45 pmWith respect, Dmac, the recent drawdowns were not as dramatic as “exponential”. For that matter, the reality is that the US forces are not really needed for South Korea to defend itself from North Korea. Considering just the correlation of forces, South Korea has been able to defeat North Korea on the battlefield for several decades.
There actually have been periods when the purpose of US forces was really to stop the South Korean forces from trying.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:02 pmOverheard today behind a closed door to the Oval Office:
“Hillary, this is Barry. Where in hell did you put that ‘Reset’ button you keep talking about? I can’t find it anywhere. You’d better s*** me one, because I need that motherf***er P.D.Q.”
MarkJ (d2394a) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:03 pmTopsecretk9, 5/25/2009 @ 6:28 pm – what happened was that the Democrats gave us an empty suit unprepared to lead a cub scout troop.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:04 pmNo, it’s not on the wrong thread, The Emperor, although I suspect Bradley’s clever comment was made mostly in jest. But there are other reasons than economics that people would vote for Obama — such as this one from a 2006 Anchoress post about the Democratic primary: That some white people supported Obama over Hillary because voting for a black candidate seemed like a noble thing to do. I think that’s true of some voters in the general election, too.
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:16 pmChristopher Morton put it best.
Michael Ejercito (365b6d) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:45 pm“I thought once a Democrat was president all dots would finally be connected, what happened?”
TSK9 – That’s what Barry’s doing in the Oval Office. Once all the dots are connected, they make a picture of a UNICORN!
I loved those things when I was in grade school too!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:52 pmWhat Obama needs is to discover he has another, asian-sounding middle name.
MayBee (c50b9d) — 5/25/2009 @ 7:59 pmThe Greenroom posts Sarah Palin’s twitter response to Obama re NK nuke situation,
Why consider US missile program cuts now? AK military program helps secure US. Now is NOT time to cut our defense.
Sadly, an obvious point to have to make.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/25/2009 @ 8:06 pm“North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons”
– Sad to live in a once strong nation which is now “led” by 14 year olds attired in adult clothing….my father got his ass shot off in that war for ….??? What ? Nothing. What a waste for a nation to have to (very expensively) re-learn lessons from the past. Run Cheney, Run !
DaveinPhoenix (699f08) — 5/25/2009 @ 8:25 pmWhen is it not-racist to question the wisdom/veracity of Teh One apologizing to the world, and how this idea of talking a lot, while effective in American politics, appears to have little to no effect on our allies and enemies?
JD (920eba) — 5/25/2009 @ 8:46 pmObama’s response is not even as strong as threatening your dog by swating a rolled up newspaper into you empty hand.
Hondo (9716a0) — 5/26/2009 @ 7:54 amHave we been caught with our pants down…in intelligence? Good move, Obama…
Ben (43f626) — 5/26/2009 @ 8:56 am#10 & #29, don’t think you can assume Koreans are the same or similar to other peoples, they aren’t. Their history and cultural identity mark them as rather more tough and rugged than one might assume without direct experience of them and their culture.
I repeat myself: any attempt to engage them with hollow words or empty threats will be met with an immediate response a great deal stronger than expected. I know these people, they are strong and brave, fearless, and willing to engage. They respect force and the willingness to use it.
While it is possible to deal with them, it’s a task for seasoned pros, not for tyros or well-meaning but unprepared upstarts. I’m not kidding, Koreans are a special people and should not be pushed or proded without a firm grasp of what it means to have a tiger by the tail.
Ropelight (e36d4f) — 5/26/2009 @ 10:38 amIt was a major mistake to not have our Zoomies destroy every bit of military equipment in both NK and Iran. Neither of those countries should have anything more lethal than a Red Ryder BB gun. Neither of them should have a Navy with anything bigger than a twelve foot canoe.
I miss the Democratic Party of FDR and Harry Truman. They didn’t know anything about economics (neither do Republicans) but they knew about trying to protect America.
Peter (996c34) — 5/26/2009 @ 12:52 pm