A senior North Korean official has issued a stern warning to the world that it should take "literally" his country's threat to test a nuclear weapon above ground.
The official, Ri Yong Pil, told CNN in an exclusive conversation in Pyongyang that the threat made by North Korea's foreign minister last month should not be dismissed. North Korea "has always brought its words into action," Ri said, visibly angry.
Speaking on a visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly last month, Ri Yong Ho, the foreign minister, raised the possibility that North Korea could test a powerful hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. The threat came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea in a speech to the UN.
"The foreign minister is very well aware of the intentions of our supreme leader, so I think you should take his words literally," Ri told CNN in Pyongyang.
North Korea's continued threats have put its neighbors in the Pacific on high alert. In September, Pyongyang flew a ballistic missile over Japan. When North Korea it carried out its sixth nuclear test, it claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb that could fit atop a ballistic missile.
And during the back-and-forth barbs with Washington, Pyongyang at one point said it would fire missiles into the waters off the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Ri also implied that diplomatic channels between the US and North Korea were nonexistent, despite US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reiterating over months that they are still open.
"The US is talking about a military option and even practicing military moves. They're pressuring us on all fronts with sanctions. If you think this will lead to diplomacy, you're deeply mistaken," Ri said.
Now, the tests could hit closer to home. We all remember Kim Jong Un’s initial threat to “test” a nuclear weapon over the Pacific Ocean. This test would devastate ocean life:
The explosion would send radioactive particles flying through the air and into the water. Wind could carry the dangerous particles over hundreds of miles.
The smoke from the blast site could block out sunlight and hinder life forms at sea that depend on photosynthesis to survive. The exposure to radiation could cause severe health problems for nearby marine life…
The changes could lead to crippling mutations in future generations. The eggs and larvae of marine organisms are especially sensitive to radiation, according to experts. Affected animals could pass the exposure up the food chain. (source)
It isn’t just marine life that would be affected. The radiation from such a “test” would drift in very short order over the mainland United States, Canada, and Hawaii according to a “rough simulation” posted on Twitter by Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
As you can see from the simulation, the entire West Coast would be affected up into Canada. Then, radiation would spread across the Northern part of the United States.
On the other hand, as some commenters pointed out, there have been many, many nuclear tests since 1945. Check out this video. Things start getting very busy about 1962.
Would a North Korean test in the Pacific be different than these past tests? Stronger? Done in a more vulnerable location? Those are the unknown variables in the equation.
With the recent escalation of the war of words between Trump and Kim Jong Un, it’s difficult to imagine that war is very far off. Horrifying propaganda art has ensured that the North Koreans loathe and fear Americans, and North Korea has boasted that nearly 5 million young people have enlisted in their military to “send millions of nuclear bombs to wipe out the US.” And Dr. Ron Paul, former senator and presidential candidate warns us that a false flag could also be imminent. (And with our history, who would really be stunned by that?)
Two US aircraft carriers along with escort ships have joined the US Navy in the Pacific, ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to East Asia amid soaring tensions around the Korean Peninsula.
The announcements on the USS ‘Theodore Roosevelt’ and USS ‘Nimitz’ aircraft carriers, alongside their carrier groups, joining the US 7th Fleet came on Wednesday within hours of each other. The carriers will join the USS ‘Ronald Reagan’ strike group, which is already operating in the Western Pacific off the Korean Peninsula.
“USS ‘Theodore Roosevelt’ is prepared to carry out the full spectrum of possible missions, from humanitarian relief to combat operations,”the vessel’s commanding officer, Capt. Carlos Sardiello, said. “When a carrier leaves on deployment, we have to be ready for anything.”
The announcements came just ahead of Trump’s scheduled East Asia trip. The US president has been engaged in a fiery war of words with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. While Trump vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea and punish “little Rocket Man” Kim for his missile and nuclear tests, North Korea has repeatedly threatened to reduce the US to “ashes and darkness.”
The new deployments came as the US and its regional allies, including Japan and South Korea, were conducting joint large-scale naval drills, aimed at strengthening ballistic missile defenses.
The imminent introduction of oil trading in yuan is a very bold move by the Chinese, because the US will not give up the basis of its hegemony – the dollar as the world’s reserve currency – without a fight, Max Keiser, host of RT’s financial program ‘Keiser Report' says.
The Chinese plan to roll out a yuan-denominated oil contract before the end of this year is a very brave move, since countries who “tried to exit the oil-dollar matrix have met terrible ends,” Keiser pointed out.
“Saddam Hussein wanted to trade oil in Euros and he was killed, Muammar Gaddafi wanted to trade his energy in something other than the US dollar – he was killed,” Keiser said.
China, however, has the resolve and the resources to pull-off the de-dollarization, and besides, it’s backed by several major countries which are “resistant to America’s financial cartel,” namely Russia and Iran, Keiser says.
“This makes sense, geopolitical sense, in terms you’ve got China and Russia and the Saudis looking to escape the US dollar, US dollar hegemony.”
Countries worldwide are tired of funding the America’s “military adventurism by being a party to the ‘Empire of Debt,’ as it’s known around the world – the US dollar,” and therefore, will likely join the de-dollarization movement, Keiser believes.
The US financial sector and its military-industrial complex are unlikely to give up the dollar hegemony without a fight, though, as the dollar is both the basis and the main product of America. And the US will use its other favorite tool for it – war, Keiser believes.
“Maybe they will start a war between Japan and China, and maybe they will start a war with North Korea. America will do anything to keep the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency,” Keiser said.
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