March 6, 2008

U.S. intelligence chief on
N. Korea's plutonium: They have 'enough for 12' nukes

North Korea is believed to have produced up to 50 kilograms of plutonium, enough for between six and 12 nuclear bombs, the director of national intelligence said last week. “We have high confidence that they had a highly enriched uranium program.” DNI Mike McConnell said. “I mean, there's no ambiguity about that, in our estimation, based on the evidence that we had at hand,” he said.                      (FULL STORY)
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testifies in Washington, on Feb. 27.    AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Pentagon report estimates PLA budget at three times the official figure

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) administration has awarded the defense forces a budget boost of 17.6 percent even as the latest Pentagon report on China’s military has highlighted the latter’s aggressive weapons modernization program and stated its actual military outlay — estimated at between $97 billion and $139 billion — was three times the published budget.
(FULL STORY)
Chinese military delegates at the opening of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, in Beijing on March 5.    Claro Cortes IV/Reuters
New government in Seoul ends decade of silence on human rights abuses in North Korea
Defectors report underground churches in North Korea have survived harsh crackdowns
   
U.S. making no secret of its strategic buildup on Guam
U.S. to challenge China on anti-satellite program — after Olympics
Communist MTV: Music videos drive home Hu Jintao rhetoric
Gates rejects comparison of U.S. satellite kill to China's ASAT

Western arms flowing into China under the embargo radar / China goes head-to-head with Western oil companies in Nigeria / Vietnam inflation takes off
North Korea's Kim turns back to China as Seoul reinstates pro-U.S. posture
Pyongyang for first time issues threat hinting at the use of nuclear weapons
Report: Top North Korean official now under protection in South
DIA classifies 2006 North Korean test as ICBM

 
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