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Mullen Calls North Koreas Actions Very Dangerous
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2010 Revelations that North Korea has secretly built a large uranium enrichment facility validate long-standing concerns about that nations nuclear intentions and is a destabilizing force in the region, the top U.S. military officer said today.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, appeared this morning on CNNs State of the Union and ABCs This Week.
The assumption certainly is that [North Korea] continues to head in the direction of additional nuclear weapons, Mullen said. They are also known to proliferate this technology, so theyre a very dangerous country.
According to a story that appeared yesterday in The New York Times, North Korean officials allowed visiting Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, to tour a sophisticated new uranium enrichment plant that North Korea has built in secret and may have been built with foreign help.
Ive been concerned for a long time about instability in that region and North Korea has been at the center of that, Mullen said. Weve worked hard with other countries to try to bring pressure on them to comply with strict United Nations Security Council resolutions related to North Koreas nuclear ambitions.
This in fact violates United Nations Security Council resolutions 1718 [2006] and 1874 [2009], Mullen said. And it violates what they said theyd do in 2005 with respect to getting to the six-party talks [aimed at addressing the countrys nuclear program]. So theyre a country that routinely we are unable to believe they will do what they say.
North Korea is the greatest threat to peace in Northeast Asia and the focal point of the defense posture on the peninsula. North Korea is believed to have at least 1.5 million military members along with its nuclear capabilities.
In March, North Korea torpedoed and sank the South Korean navy ship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
In October, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young participated in the 42nd Security Consultative Meeting here, after which they told reporters that the U.S.-South Korea military alliance has never been stronger.
Both men called on North Korea to end provocative actions like the Cheonan attack.
The news that the ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has anointed his son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor has the alliance preparing to defend against all possible North Korean threats.
We have to continue to bring pressure on [Kim Jong-il], Mullen said, specifically through the six-party-talk countries -- Russia, China, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
President Barack Obama sent out a team to each of the capitals this weekend to re-engage. Thats where we are right now and Im sure we will continue to do that, Mullen said.
Weve been engaged with China for an extended period of time with respect to North Korea, Mullen added. A great part of this will have to be done through Beijing.
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2010 Revelations that North Korea has secretly built a large uranium enrichment facility validate long-standing concerns about that nations nuclear intentions and is a destabilizing force in the region, the top U.S. military officer said today.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, appeared this morning on CNNs State of the Union and ABCs This Week.
The assumption certainly is that [North Korea] continues to head in the direction of additional nuclear weapons, Mullen said. They are also known to proliferate this technology, so theyre a very dangerous country.
According to a story that appeared yesterday in The New York Times, North Korean officials allowed visiting Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, to tour a sophisticated new uranium enrichment plant that North Korea has built in secret and may have been built with foreign help.
Ive been concerned for a long time about instability in that region and North Korea has been at the center of that, Mullen said. Weve worked hard with other countries to try to bring pressure on them to comply with strict United Nations Security Council resolutions related to North Koreas nuclear ambitions.
This in fact violates United Nations Security Council resolutions 1718 [2006] and 1874 [2009], Mullen said. And it violates what they said theyd do in 2005 with respect to getting to the six-party talks [aimed at addressing the countrys nuclear program]. So theyre a country that routinely we are unable to believe they will do what they say.
North Korea is the greatest threat to peace in Northeast Asia and the focal point of the defense posture on the peninsula. North Korea is believed to have at least 1.5 million military members along with its nuclear capabilities.
In March, North Korea torpedoed and sank the South Korean navy ship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
In October, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young participated in the 42nd Security Consultative Meeting here, after which they told reporters that the U.S.-South Korea military alliance has never been stronger.
Both men called on North Korea to end provocative actions like the Cheonan attack.
The news that the ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has anointed his son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor has the alliance preparing to defend against all possible North Korean threats.
We have to continue to bring pressure on [Kim Jong-il], Mullen said, specifically through the six-party-talk countries -- Russia, China, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
President Barack Obama sent out a team to each of the capitals this weekend to re-engage. Thats where we are right now and Im sure we will continue to do that, Mullen said.
Weve been engaged with China for an extended period of time with respect to North Korea, Mullen added. A great part of this will have to be done through Beijing.
