"It's very clear that the North Koreans want to pick a fight," he said. "They want to kill the six-party talks."
North Korea has vowed to quit six-nation nuclear negotiations and restart its atomic program after the U.N. Security Council's criticism of North Korea's launch of a long-range missile on April 5. North Korea also kicked all international monitors out of its nuclear facilities.
Asked if he expected Pyongyang to carry out another nuclear test, Samore said: "I think they will. That's what they are threatening to do."
Pyongyang conducted its first atomic test in 2006, and is thought to have enough plutonium to make at least a half-dozen nuclear bombs.
Samore said that the United States is committed to the six-nation talks and predicted that North Korea would be forced back to negotiations within nine months.
"We'll just wait," he said. He added that he believed that other major powers would support further sanctions against North Korea if they carry out a test.
"The Chinese are very, very angry at the North Koreans," he said.
So North Korean whining won't get the Pillsbury Nuke Boy anything and will just get the sanctions tightened.
And the Chinese probably don't need us to abandon South Korea and Taiwan to get their help.
North Korea is dying and we need to gently push them over the edge. I don't rule out that North Korea could lash out and inflict serious casualties on south Korea, Japan, or America.
But attacking us or our allies would be a death sentence for North Korea. Right now we need the Chinese to explain very firmly to the Pyongyang leadership that attacking us would lead to a fatal counter-attack and that China would not raise a finger to stop us.
I think ignoring the North Koreans and waiting them out is the best option--even if they blow off a nuke. We do have some basic defense against North Korean missiles, if they ever manage to build a nuclear missile.
Heck, that's one bomb's worth less of material they can use to build a real warhead or sell to Iran. Which makes me think North Korea isn't even close to having actual nuclear weapons. Why test again, if they are nearing that capability? Shouldn't the first one have been our warning? The North Koreans may just want an excuse to see if they've gotten the darn thing built right this time.
Squeeze them. Let the regime die.
