FROM THE WONDERFUL GUYS WHO GAVE YOU THE KOREAN WAR – AT 10:36 A.M. ET:  We noted in our first post this morning that the American negotiators dealing with Iran and its nuclear program are headed by Wendy Sherman, who, during the Clinton years, was in charge of our negotiations with North Korea.  Not a good reference.

Where did those negotiations with North Korea go?  Right into the dumper.  North Korea, despite all agreements, goes its own way, and that way is chilling.  Consider a report just out from AFP:

SEOUL — North Korea has apparently completed preparations for a third nuclear test, possibly within two weeks, after firing a long-range rocket this month, according to a newspaper report.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo said the information came from a government source. It relates to preparations for a test in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri, where the North carried out two previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report.

A South Korean government official told AFP on April 8 on condition of anonymity that satellite images showed a new underground tunnel built at the nuclear test site besides two others where the previous tests were conducted.

"Heaps of earth and sand which had been piled up outside the new tunnel have disappeared," a government source was quoted as saying by Chosun.

"It is highly likely that the North has installed a nuclear device inside the tunnel and sealed it (with the piles of earth and sand)," the source said.

Since last year, US and South Korean intelligence authorities have been monitoring the excavation by measuring the amount of soil and rocks dumped from the tunnel, it said.

But it has not yet been confirmed whether the North has installed cables for detonation, the source said.

"It is technically feasible for the North to carry out a nuclear test within two weeks," the source added.

COMMENT:  And what will be our response if the north does carry out a new nuclear test?  Well, I guess it will be some sanctions, which the north will then ignore.

North Korea has exported its technology to other rogue states, like Syria and Iran.  It has paid virtually no price, at least no price that its leaders care about.  And there seem to be plenty of people in the West, including much of the Western left, that just can't be bothered about any of this.

April 21, 2012