Kim says "No more nuke tests".

N. Korea has allegedly stated that they have no plans for any more nuke tests.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il has told visiting Chinese envoys that he has no plans for any more nuclear tests, it has been reported.

His comments came shortly after China voiced optimism about talks aimed at bringing Pyongyang back into line after its nuclear test.

The October 9 test brought worldwide condemnation and UN sanctions aimed at choking North Korea's weapons programmes.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a press conference in Beijing that North Korea's test was a "serious provocation" which posed an international security threat.

Source: No more nuke tests

Do you think Kim has been rattled by the threat of sanctions and the UN's recent reaction, including that of Russia and China?

Or do you take this with a pinch of salt? Maybe it's just as he said, he has no plans. Does'nt take long to draw up another plan further down the line does it?

I really don't envy the people making the decisions on this one, you can semi judge a sane person, but how the hell do you take a nutjob like Kim Jong-il seriously?

CX.

[edit on 20/10/06 by CX]

I think he is rattled and quite embarassed now that he has pissed of the hand that feeds him (China). He knows he crossed a line. I bet $$ there wont be any second tests in the immediate future. They got what they wanted..they let everyone know they are nuclear and now they have a chance to get back to the 6 party talks and even get some sanctions lifted.

I can think of several reasons for this reversal besides to seemingly cave in to sanctions.

The first test failed, and they have to go back to the drawing board, so they will not be ready to try again for a while.

They used all the material they had to conduct the test and try to convince everyone they had additional bombs.

From my theory that they are trying to provoke an attack, maybe they decided we are not going to be that stupid.

The most dangerous reason could be that KJI is no longer calling the shots, and other generals will continue the testing.

Just food for thought.

Or maybe they don't need to do any more tests?

I wonder if the last test was as much of a failure as has been made out?

Kim's not stupid enough to try and lure the world into a false sense of security is he?

CX.

I think POP is dead-on with this one. China is pissed that NK did this without their approval and have pulled back hard on their leash. As for the presumption that this was a 'dud' not everyone was in agreement. There are some intelligence folks out there who believe that it may have been a test of the first stage of a hydrogen bomb --- in which case it was a complete success. A hydrogen device uses a sub-kiloton device as the trigger or first stage of the hydrogen fusion stage. The fact that they had been planning additional tests seems to support this possibility. In any case China has spanked the little upstart and that's good news.

I agree China just put his cards on the table and Kim didn't have other choice.

China will not interfere with US if they decided to attack NK nuclear plants and that is deterrent enough to stop anything Kim is doing.

It may pretty much close his mouth too.

I think whatever is happening, China is the one pulling the strings. Kim has made too many trips there. Who did he call when he wanted to light off three more? China.

Yep, he's a proxy IMO. We in the western world have such short attention spans compared to the Chinese. They think of War in terms of Centuries. And now they've got little Condi in the house, so they'll demonstrate how much influence they have in Asia.