Critical Observer

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has threatened the United States with nuclear Armageddon after Pyongyang resumed production of atomic bomb fuel in its top secret laboratory. The director of North Korea's Atomic Energy Institute said the country was ready to counter any US hostility with 'nuclear weapons any time'. 
 
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My Comment: September 14, 2015 we posted an article about a North Korean satellite launch which is suspected as a cover to test ICBM missile technology. <a href="http://tranceponder.blogspot.com/2015/09/north-korea-satellite-launch-long-range.html" target="_blank">Click Here to View </a></h3>
 
He said scientists had 'made innovations day by day' to 'guarantee the reliability of the nuclear deterrent... as required by the prevailing situation'. 
 
He said: 'In the meantime, the US anachronistic hostile policy toward the DPRK that forced it to have access to the nuclear weapons has remained utterly unchanged and instead it has become all the more undisguised and vicious with the adoption of means openly seeking the downfall of the latter's social system.' 
 
The chilling declaration comes comes a day after Pyongyang said it is ready to launch satellites aboard long-range rockets to mark a key national anniversary next month. 
 
A National Aerospace Development Administration director said the North has been making 'shining achievements; in the space development field ahead of the 70th birthday of the Workers' Party, saying scientists and technicians are pushing forward on a final development phase for a new earth observation satellite for weather forecasts. 
 
'Space development for peaceful purposes is a sovereign state's legitimate right ... and the people of (North Korea) are fully determined to exercise this right no matter what others may say about it,' the director told Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. The world will 'clearly see a series of satellites soaring into the sky at times and locations determined' by the Workers' Party. 
 
The launches, if made, are certain to trigger an international standoff, with South Korea, Washington and other neighboring countries condemning past launches as disguised tests of the North's long-range missile technology and Pyongyang making a furious response to the criticism. 
 
North Korea has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range rocket. After several failures, it put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in late 2012. The UN said it was a banned test of ballistic missile technology and imposed sanctions. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology. 
 
An angry North Korea then conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013, inviting further international condemnation and sanctions. 
 
Intelligence agencies believe that North Korea is working on measures to miniaturize it nuclear weapon so it could be mounted onto a rocket. 
 
North Korea insists that its space program is entirely peaceful as they only want to launch earth observation satellites. 
 
However, these multi-stage rockets could be used as a nuclear weapon delivery system. 
Washington sees North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to world security and to its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea. 
 
The North's announcement on Monday also raised doubt about recent signs of easing animosities between the rival Koreas, which have agreed to hold reunions next month of families separated by war. The two Koreas previously threatened each other with war in August in the wake of mine explosions blamed on Pyongyang that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier in that month 
 
 
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea. 
 
A Chinese government-backed think-tank is planning to host a forum on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. 
 
Talks between China, the United States, Russia, South Korea, Japan and North Korea collapsed in 2008 when the Pyongyang regime refused to allow international observers inspect its nuclear facilities. 
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will address the gathering, the Foreign Ministry said in a short notice on its website, without saying who else will attend. 
Ties between North Korea and its most important ally, China, have cooled since Kim Jong Un assumed power in Pyongyang and, in 2013, carried out a third nuclear test, in defiance of U.N. sanctions. 
 
In 2005, North Korea reached an agreement with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia to suspend its nuclear program in return for diplomatic rewards and energy assistance. 
North Korea has called for the resumption of the talks, but the United States and South Korea have said Pyongyang must first show it is serious about ending its nuclear program.

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North Korea's space agency is close to developing a new satellite and readying it for launch, state media said on Monday, suggesting it will fire a long-range rocket around a national anniversary next month. 
 
North Korea will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Oct. 10 and has been expected to launch an upgraded long-range ballistic missile, viewed as a major violation of international sanctions. 
 
"The world will clearly see a series of satellites of Songun Korea soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the WPK Central Committee," the North's KCNA news agency said, with Songun referring to its "military first" policy. 
 
"The NADA is pushing forward at a final phase the development of a new earth observation satellite," KCNA quoted the director of the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) as saying. 
 
"Successful progress made in reconstructing and expanding satellite launching grounds for higher-level satellite lift-off has laid a firm foundation for dynamically pushing ahead with the nation's development of space science," the director said. 
 
North Korea is banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions from conducting tests that use ballistic missile technology, but it has defied international warnings and sanctions to pursue missile and nuclear programs. 
 
The North claims its rocket launches are part of a legitimate space program aimed at putting satellites into orbit. 
 
Satellite images showed North Korea has completed upgrades to its main satellite launch site near the west coast, according to 38 North, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in July, fuelling speculation of a planned long-range rocket launch to celebrate the 70th anniversary. 
 
But South Korea's defense minister said last week there were no indications of actual preparations for a missile launch. 
 
The secretive country has an arsenal of missiles of various ranges and is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile aimed at delivering nuclear weapons, although it is considered years away from such deployment. 
 
In 2012, North Korea launched what is generally considered a long-range rocket, putting what it said was a satellite into orbit. Pyongyang called it a space launch vehicle, but the international community said it was a missile that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. 
 
The North is also working to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to mount on a delivery vehicle. 
 
(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park)

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