Feature story - 11 February, 2005
George Bush's war on weapons of mass destruction has just had its first concrete result: the world now has 8 countries with declared nuclear weapons instead of 7. North Korea has officially announced that they have manufactured "enough nuclear weapons to deter a US attack." Nice going, George.
Greenpeace's 'Most Wanted' deck of nuclear proliferators also includes George Bush.
North Korea made the first public admission that it has nuclear
weapons on February 10th.
They simultaneously announced they are leaving the Six Party
talks,which began in 2003 to address concerns about a possible
North Koreannuclear weapons programme. Those talks have been
stalled since lastSeptember.
The talks have been marred by hypocrisy and fault on all
sides.
China, Russia, and the US fail in their international
obligations topursue nuclear disarmament, and are actively
upgrading their nucleararsenals.
South Korea has been embroiled in controversy over its own
experiments with nuclear weapons materials.
Japan is sitting on a massive 5-ton domestic stockpile of
plutonium.They plan to open a reprocessing facility at Rokashu-Mura
capable ofseparating much more, and the capacity to turn that
stockpile intoweapons is well within their reach.
Nuclear brinkmanship is inevitable in a climate of
nuclearhypocrisy. Only when all countries pursue nuclear
disarmament in goodfaith can we begin putting the nuclear genie
back in the bottle bybanning the use and manufacture of fissile
materials.
North Korea's decision means troubled waters ahead for all of
us. Anew nuclear arms race in Asia all but guarantees a global
response ofmore weapons, more sabre-rattling from the US, and more
borderlinenuclear powers deciding it's time to do as George Bush
does and not ashe says: i.e. join the global love affair with
weapons of massdestruction.
North Korea can turn that tide by doing the right thing. They
shouldimmediately set aside their weapons and rejoin the Nuclear
NonProliferation Treaty (NPT) regime. They should advocate for
thedisarmament of the US and other nuclear weapons states from
within the treaty system, not from without.
There must be one rule for all: no nukes.
Take Action
Ask
North Korea to do the right thing: rejoin the NPT and advocate
for the complete nuclear disarmament that the nuclear weapons
states agreed under the treaty.
Play Nuclear Solitaire, a fun and educational way to while away
the time while the NPT unravels.