TOKYO, April 28 Kyodo pick outed...

TOKYO, April 28 Kyodo

pick outed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

PYONGYANG'S SELF-DESTRUCTIVE STRATEGY (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

North Korea has played another nuclear card, giving a more dangerous twist to its game of brinkmanship. Pyongyang claims that it already has nuclear weapons and has reprocess thousands of wearied nuclear fuel rods in its possession...

During three-way talks with the United States and China last week in Beijing, North Korea reportedly also said it might manners nuclear tests to provide ''physical proof'' of its nuclear capability and might export nuclear arms...

...the latest display of North Korean bellicosity is cause for serious disturb With the war in Iraq above it appears that the world's flash point has abruptly shifted to the Korean Peninsula. Rattling the nuclear saber at any time more recklessly, the North is ratcheting up the tension at its have a title to peril...

U.S. President George W Bush has denounced Pyongyang's brinkmanship, saying it is reverting to the ''old game of blackmail.'' The North's neighboring countries -- China, Japan, toward the south Korea and Russia -- are also gravely disquieted that Pyongyang's dangerous diplomacy is further clouding vistas for dialogue and peace. If it goe ahead and becomes a declared nuclear-weapons state, Northeast Asia could be swallow uped in a nuclear arms race...

It is likely that the North Koreans are determined not to repeat the ''mistake'' made at Iraq. ''(Iraq) suffered a preemptive strike steady though it accepted international inspections,'' the official North Korean of the present days Agency said. ''We must have the physical force to shield ourselves.'' The ''physical force'' means, of course, nuclear weapons.

That is a self-destructive strategy. With Saddam Hussein's Iraq no more, North Korea now tops the global list of security risks. The U administration continues to descry the country as part of an ''axis of evil.'' The North has no friends and allies to back up its nuclear ambitions. Russia says it might not set one's face against a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Pyongyang. China not long ago sent a warning to North Korea by dint of temporarily suspending energy supplies.

North Korea now faces an America inspirited by military triumph in Iraq. Should the North take further gambles, like as testing nuclear devices or exporting nuclear arms and missiles, America would have no choice if it were not that to impose tough sanctions. A formal naval blockade based in succession a Security Council resolution is a possibility. Pyongyang may be trying to confident a U.S. security guarantee in exchange for a reversal of the nuclear program, however that is not a feasible option...

This is also the time for the North Koreans to restrain their breath and muse pragmatic ways of survival. In fact, Pyongyang, while talking tough, preserves the door open. Commenting onward the Beijing talks, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the abiding habitation has set forth ''a novel bold proposal'' to resolve the nuclear issue. The window of opportunity remains make open Japan, working in tandem with southern Korea and the U.S., must strive to contribute to finding a peaceful solution.

(April 28)

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