***************************************************************** 12/20/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.329 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 nuking the nomads [your tax $ at work] 2 UN steps closer to conflict with Iraq 3 Powell and Ivanov discuss North Korea nuclear program 4 North Korea's nuclear reactor said to remain inactivated 5 Congratulations to Roh from West, but silence from North 6 North Korea conducted 70 nuclear tests: Report 7 Pakistani scientist offered Saddam nuclear designs 8 Russian nuclear energy minister to arrive in Iran on Sunday 9 US: Civil extremists If dissent is a crime, just lock us up 10 Inspectors: Iraq Documentation Lacking 11 S. Korean President-Elect to Engage North 12 US Intelligence Says Russia Helping Iran in Nuclear Arms Effort 13 Panel to probe China's nuclear-related sales -- NUCLEAR REACTORS 14 US: NRC: error corrections in rules 15 US: *Judge changes mind on one of many CY cases* 16 Chubu Elec Restarts 840-MW Reactor After 7-Month Closure 17 US: Yankee seeks big boost in power output 18 US: NRC making safety suggestions for plant - 19 US: Citizens Action demands refunds for Davis-Besse charges - 20 US: Maine Yankee Security Focus Of Petitions 21 UK baulks at building new nuclear reactors 22 US: NRC: GEIS for decommissioning NUCLEAR SAFETY 23 EU Keeps Lid on Irradiated Foods 24 School starts nuclear decon class 25 Nuclear reactor's fire safety questioned* 26 US: Calculating risk Behind the scenes NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 27 US: NRC rejects two state claims attempting 28 Bechtel National Appoints Mitchell Yucca Mountain President, 29 US: Feds Are No Help to Utah on N-Waste 30 Bechtel National Appoints Mitchell Yucca Mountain 31 US: Hassle over Nevada nuke dump water resolved* 32 Hassle over Nevada nuke dump water resolved 33 Yucca could be cash cow for Nye County - 34 US: Nuclear agency rejects two Utah arguments 35 Energy Department granted partial Yucca water rights 36 Sellafield workers sacked for emails 37 US: Hot waste on the move 38 Nevada vows to keep up fight against nuclear dump* 39 Lebanon questions plant plans (proposed enrichment facility) 40 Beatty unfurls YMP wish list* 41 Hassle over Nevada nuke dump water resolved 42 US: State loses nuclear waste round 43 US: NRC: Fonsi for Pathfinder Mine contamination levels 44 US: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Research facility begins transfer 45 Testing Considered for Yucca N-Waste Shipping Casks NUCLEAR WEAPONS 46 US: Bush wants interceptor missiles at VAFB 47 US: Become a Volunteer Weapons Inspector!!! Carter's Warning 48 No more nuclear tests:Govt* 49 The secret war on Iraq* / US DEPT. OF ENERGY 50 NNSA reorganization won't affect Oak Ridge 51 Local reaction positive for new ORO manager 52 Contract awarded for SNS land improvements 53 Dick Smyser: 50 years since Oak Ridge physicist became a priest 54 EPA: INEEL must do more to keep material from reaching aquifer 55 Tauscher rallies for sick DOE workers 56 DOE Wants To Charge Watchdog Group For FOI Search 57 INEEL fined for alleged radioactive waste violations 58 Pantex's Ruddy to transfer out; Mallory new GM 59 DOE meeting on transuranics going to WIPP 60 DOE Rocky Flats meeting 61 DOE Paducah advisory bd meeting 62 DOE: Moab Uranium Mill flood plan meeting 63 Jeff German: Test Site workers scrooged 64 EPA fines DOE $175,000 for remediation failure 65 DOE Savannah River Meeting 66 DOE: Oak Ridge meeting OTHER NUCLEAR 67 Former Utah Rep. Owens found dead on Tel Aviv beach 68 Spiritual ceremony marks closing of Wellstone's Senate office ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 nuking the nomads [your tax $ at work] Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 22:16:44 -0600 (CST) Translated by Mark K. Jensen Associate Professor of French Chair, Department of Languages and Literatures Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, WA 98447-0003 Phone: 253-535-7219 Webpage: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/ E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu Date: 12/14/02 9:19:20 PM Pacific Standard Time From: jensenmk@plu.edu This piece appeared in Thursday's Le Monde (Paris). It reports in detail on the American army's occupation of Kuwaiti territory neighboring Iraq, which isn't much mentioned in the mainstream U.S. media -- though I did notice one paragraph about it two weeks ago in a story in the New York Times. Translated from Le Monde (Paris), Dec. 12. Unabridged: the apparent ellipses are a stylistic device of the author: _______________________ THE "EMPIRE"'S BIVOUACS **More than 70,000 men and women and tens of thousands of tons of American weaponry are already arrayed around Iraq. In Kuwait, in Qatar, and in Bahrain, troop training has become intensive. Reporting from the camps of the world's leading army.** THE ENCIRCLEMENT OF IRAQ BY THE AMERICAN ARMY Seventy-seven degrees at noon, about 45 at midnight. The young GIs stationed at Doha, in Qatar, think the prevailing climate these days in the Arabian-Persian Gulf is "ideal for action." The preparation of troops and materiel has intensified in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, the three emirates chosen by Washington to house the US Army's cohorts, the US Air Force's hawks, and the Fifth Fleet's navies and its huge whales loaded with planes. Officially, George W. Bush, the "commander-in-chief" of all the armies, has not yet sounded the call to arms. Theoretically, this is a continuation of Operation "Desert Storm," already ten years old. But nobody in the Arabian Desert, no one in a European chancellery, and no one in the marble palaces of local sultans has any illusions about what's going to happen next. The American machine is definitely on the warpath... "The possibility of a conflict is close and very real," confirms Col. David Perkins, one of the bigwigs of Camp New York, a canvas city plunked down right in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. The conflict has not begun, it has not even been planned, but the centurions are in place on all borders, on a war footing. Gen. Wesley Clark, experienced in these matters, has "an intuition" that greatest mechanized assault in the history of the United States will be given the go "around the end of January." The former commander of American NATO forces is not the only one of that opinion. "Don't quote me," says one European military expert, "but in fact I think that they've decided in Washington that absent any dramatics in Baghdad they'll let people celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in peace." In any case, even if the rhythm of the arriving troops, ships, and all the heavy armament has picked up the pace remarkably -- in Doha alone, you could count landings of jumbo jets numbering twenty or so per day on Dec. 5, 6, and 7 --, the complete set-up that the Pentagon's top generals want in order to undertake an offensive free from needless risks was not yet completely in place for the Aid-al-Fitr holiday that concludes Ramadan. This set-up is said to require "at least 200,000," according to The New York Times. As far as one can learn in the dense thickets of rumor and "confidential" information in which journalists find themselves enmeshed, on Jan. 1 there will be about 100,000 men and women in place in the three emirates named above (Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar), on four aircraft carriers and dozens of support ships cruising in the zone, together with the troops stationed in the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia (which is still hesitating about whether to participate in an attack on Iraq). Still far too few, but military analysts aren't worried. "The needed heavy materiel and logistics are there," one of them says. "With intensive jumbo jet shuttles all the necessary troops could be here in two or three weeks at the most." In Camp Doha, in Kuwait, and on Qatar's Al-Udeid, As-Sayliyah and Camp Snoopy bases, hundreds of Abrams assault tanks -- 70-ton monsters --, hundreds of Bradleys, those famous "humvees" (armored troop transports), the huge 155-mm self-propelled howitzers (cannons), and the minesweepers are already in place. There are also several hundred fighter aircraft and bombers -- F-14s, F-15s, F-16s, F-18s --, not to mention the enormous B-2s and B-52s stationed on the British island of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Whatever one thinks about its mission, the deployment of the American military eagle around its prey, six thousand miles away from its nest, is an impressive sight. And a source of permanent envy for every European military officer. "Take a look! We've constructed a veritable city, haven't we?" Col. John Cunnings, head of the detachment of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, takes pride in the firepower amassed by his country. With a bullet-proof vest, standard-issue revolver strapped low on his right thigh, gas mask packed high on his left hip, walkie-talkie on his chest, assault rifle slung across his shoulder, and dark glasses on his nose, this officer presents a silhouette worthy of Hollywood. He points to the vast canvas encampment that stretches before him in the harsh light of the Arabian sun. Ten kilometers of massively fortified perimeter, surrounded by a high embankment of grayish, sandy earth that was thrown up first by an armada of khaki bulldozers. In the steel cabins of watchtowers planted at every corner of Camp New York, sentinels equipped with night vision binoculars are constantly scanning the vicinity. The land is so flat that no one can approach without standing out as visibly as a black olive on a billiard table. "Today only America can send this kind of a force far from its bases with this standard of comfort," boasts Lt. Col. David Perkins, commander in chief of the 2nd brigade of the 3rd infantry division, theoretically based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. The towers of Manhattan are far from Camp New York. But in this corner of desolate desert, an obvious and astounding level of comfort is everywhere. It's in those portable "fountains" of cool water scattered in strategic spots throughout the camp to quench the thirst of the troops, wherever they may be, whether near the landing strips of combat helicopters that hover overhead or near the huge "parking lot," where dozens of tanks sit in rows, and it's in the strings of prefabricated port-o-potties strewn across the landscape and in the baseball fields and volleyball courts set up for the relaxation of the soldiers, both men and women. There is comfort, too, in the vast sand-colored tent dormitories, where there's a constant supply of cool air circulated by purring generator batteries. It's in the canopied dining rooms and the messes that serve hundreds of hot meals and all sorts of multicolored non-alcoholic drinks every day in a calculated "Home, sweet home" atmosphere. And it's in the big-screen digital TVs that all day long show the news of the planet on all the satellite channels. It's in the base's huge video library, and in the internet tent with its battery of computers. And there's comfort, finally, in the telephone booths that are available all day and all night to those who feel the pangs of separation from their families. When the lines are overloaded or when relatives are on vacation in Italy, in France, or in Greece, no problem -- just go to the private tent provided by AT&T, the huge private conglomerate, who, for a few dollars or a credit card, will provide communication to any place in the Universe. Not everybody, of course, is happy to be there. There is, for example, that anonymous dissident who with an enraged pencil dared to address his comrades on a toilet partition: "Hey, are you really glad to be playing mercenary to make profits for oil companies?" No comment. There is also that GI encountered at the gates to the camp who groused: "We're bored as hell here, you know. No leave, and it's strictly forbidden to hang out in the malls in Kuwait City" -- which are 40 miles away. "Can't bother the natives, they say. All you get is to take a swim every two months in the only hard encampment we have here, on the coast, at Camp Doha. It's about time they decided over there in Washington: are we going in, or not? I'm fed up. I've been here for a month, I have five more to go before I get out, and believe me, I'm counting the days." An isolated complainer, or a typical spokesperson for the company? "I often tell my troops," explains David Perkins. "Be happy you're Americans. For your country, you're not cannon fodder. You'll soon see, if we have to go up north, that the Iraqi soldier is treated less well and fed less well, in his country, than we are, here, 6000 miles from home..." Sgt. Robert Greenleaf, 25 years old, originally from Indiana and based at Camp Virginia, another base in the Kuwaiti desert, 18 miles to the south of Camp New York, complains a little about the "stress that goes with the job" -- twelve hours of training a day right now. But he acknowledges: "When you arrive in a place and a situation like this, you learn to appreciate America." The motivation of the troops "is not really a problem," swears Lt. Col. Eric Wesley. "Everybody watches TV, everybody knows who Saddam Hussein is..." Of course, adds while laughing "Captain" Michael Cutler, an infantry medic and veteran of "Desert Storm" -- the 1991 offensive that liberated Kuwait -- "we sort of have the impression that we're returning to the scene of the crime." But there's no needless hand-wringing: for officer Wesley, "whatever happens, this deployment will have provided great opportunities for training troops and equipment, which is precious." In addition, flexing one's muscles allows one to "send a message to Saddam: we're very serious..." An exercise with live ammunition took place on Wednesday, Dec. 5, north of Camp New York, on the Al-Udairi firing range. Almost 400 square miles of desert completely turned over to the American army to frolic in -- in all, American troops at this moment control about one quarter of Kuwait, about a thousand square miles that have been off limits to Bedouins and their camels for weeks. The soldiers leave at one in the morning, and get back to camp at noon. More than forty tanks and attack vehicles, hundreds of GIs of the 2nd brigade of the 1st Army batallion -- the spearhead of the American armada --, plus the 64th armored division, are participating in this full-scale "war game." Four hours of constant explosions with F-16s that pass roaring over the helmets, artillery barrages, with 155 mm shells falling around the men in huge orange showers, 50-caliber machine guns firing, bombs exploding in a deluge of fire. All in all, an impressive demonstration of force in a hellish din that's meant to be heard in the distance, on the other side of the border, less than ten miles away. This is the first time that the American army is training so close to "enemy" lines. It's not the last time, "nor by chance," says Sgt. Maj. William Barnello, a veteran of the Gulf War. "We want our men to be as bold and audacious as possible." And, secondarily, "if someone takes note of our maneuvers, he'll get a bit of an idea of the firepower we've accumulated here." No need to be more explicit: the relevant party has gotten the message. History will record that on December 7, 2002, twelve years later, Saddam Hussein, at bay, presented his first official excuses to the "Kuwaiti people" for having invaded their country in 1990. A coincidence? On the same day, Gen. Tommy Franks, commander in chief of all the American forces stationed in the region, was putting the final touches on an exercise without precedent in the neighboring emirate of Qatar. Operation "Internal Look" was moving outside American borders. Banks of the latest computers and about a thousand experts with stripes -- 600 Americans and 400 Brits -- were at their posts on the As-Sayliyah base, the most modern and the largest in the Persian Gulf. The objective: to simulate in real time, 24 hours a day for at least eight days, a generalized offensive on Iraq in order to test all the command equipment. It's from Doha, if war breaks out, that the generalissimo will direct it, coordinating all the combined actions of the US Army, the Air Force, the battalions of marines and special forces as well as the movements of the US Navy. "Saddam Hussein is surrounded," exulted Paul Wolfowitz on Thursday, the very hawkish number two in the Pentagon. The expression used last week by Condoleezza Rice, the security advisor to President Bush, is not longer up-to-date: this is not "a gun pointed at the head of the Iraqi regime," it's the world's most powerful army... Patrice Claude -- ***************************************************************** 2 UN steps closer to conflict with Iraq NEWS.com.au | (December 20, 2002) From correspondents in New York CHIEF UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said overnight that Iraq's weapons declaration includes inconsistencies and little new information, leading the US ambassador to conclude that Iraq is in "material breach" of UN resolutions. "This clearly shows that Iraq has spurned its last opportunity," US Ambassador John Negroponte said. "It fails to address scores of questions pending since 1998, it seeks to deceive when it says Iraq has no ongoing weapons of mass destruction programs." He spoke after chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, provided the Security Council with initial assessments of the 12,000-page declaration. Iraq's deputy UN Ambassador Munim Al-Kadhe dismissed the US charges as "baseless," saying: "I would like to confirm that the Iraqi declaration is complete and comprehensive." He said it can be verified on the ground by UN inspectors. But Blix noted inconsistencies in the biological area, noting that the latest report did not include a table that Iraq submitted previously. "This table has been omitted from the current declaration and the reasons for the omission need to be explained," Blix told the council, according to his briefing notes. Also, he said Iraq was using chemical equipment destroyed by inspectors before they left in December 1998 and was developing a missile known as the Al Samoud with a range, in 13 flight tests, that exceeded the range permitted under UN resolutions. ElBaradei said Iraq needed to provide answers and evidence regarding Iraq's recent purchase of aluminum tubes. The top UN nuclear inspector also found little new in the 12,000-page declaration. The Bush administration is denouncing gaps, omissions and other major troubles with the Iraqi weapons declaration, setting the United States on a course to possible war with Saddam Hussein early next year. Speaking after the meeting, both Blix and ElBaradei complained about the quality of Iraq's report. "An opportunity was missed in the declaration to give a lot of evidence," Blix said. "They can still provide it orally but it would have been better if it was in the declaration." ElBaradei noted that the Iraqis have been opening doors for inspectors on the ground but said: "We have not gotten what we need in terms of additional evidence." The comments were based on initial assessments and both men said they would need more time to review the entire declaration. Both the American and British ambassadors to the United Nations said they were "deeply disappointed" with Iraq's declaration. Negroponte said Iraq was in "material breach" of its obligations - diplomatic language that could throw the United States into a war with Iraq. Britain, American's closest ally, appeared to agree with the US view but British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that gaps in the declaration are not grounds for war. Iraq denies having weapons of mass destruction. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said it was the United States, and not Iraq, that needed to worry about the assessments. "It's the other party that's worried because there's nothing to pin on us," Iraqi general Amir al-Saadi said. He said it was natural UN experts would see little new in the declaration because Iraq hasn't restarted weapons programs in the time since their last declarations. Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf and Negroponte met Blix on Wednesday to discuss gaps in the declaration, and Negroponte had another meeting with the chief inspector on yesterday. In preparing its declaration, Iraq had a list of outstanding questions prepared by the former UN inspection agency and by an international panel of experts. Inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 and Iraq barred them from returning until last month. The unanswered questions included: How much anthrax did Iraq actually produce, and was it all destroyed as Baghdad claims? Where are 550 artillery shells that it filled with mustard gas? Why were no remnants found of warheads for 50 long-range missiles that Iraq said it destroyed? What happened to all the deadly VX nerve agent that Iraq produced. The report by former chief inspector Richard Butler listed biological agents Iraq produced including deadly botullinum toxin, anthrax and ricin; gangrene gas, which rots flesh; and aflatoxin, which causes liver cancer. Baghdad also said it did research on rotavirus, which causes diarrhea; and hemorrhage conjunctivitis virus, which effects the eyes. The Associated Press http://www.news.com.au ***************************************************************** 3 Powell and Ivanov discuss North Korea nuclear program Reuters 21 December, 2002 09:01 GMT+08:00 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Russian officials on Friday discussed how to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, which has prompted Washington to push a policy of isolating Pyongyang that has been questioned by some of its allies. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov talked over the issue in a half-hour meeting that also covered ratifying a U.S.-Russian arms control treaty and eliminating Russia's chemical weapons stockpile, U.S. officials said. "They exchanged thoughts on how the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan might cooperate to ensure the denuclearization of the (Korean) Peninsula," a State Department official said after the 30-minute meeting. The United States has argued for isolating North Korea following its October disclosure to U.S. officials that it was working on a uranium enrichment project for a nuclear weapons program. Washington has run into resistance to its stance from Japan and South Korea, which this week elected liberal Roh Moo-hyun, an advocate of pursuing Seoul's "sunshine policy" of engagement with the North, as president. On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov was quoted as saying Moscow would not put pressure on Pyongyang. One U.S. official said Powell and Ivanov discussed "how we can coordinate ... to make sure that North Korea gets the message ... to make clear that North Korea has got to get rid of these nuclear programs." The official said the two discussed coordination, rather than specific measures that Russia might take to put pressure on Pyongyang. U.S. officials have previously said they hoped China and Russia would use their economic leverage to try to influence the reclusive, Stalinist regime in Pyongyang. In addition, U.S. officials said that Powell and Ivanov discussed the prospects for the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma to ratify the Treaty of Moscow, which was signed in May and commits each side to cutting its deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads over 10 years. ***************************************************************** 4 North Korea's nuclear reactor said to remain inactivated Reuters 21 December, 2002 12:23 GMT+08:00 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is no sign that North Korea has followed through on a threat to restart a nuclear reactor at the heart of a suspected 1990s weapons program, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. One week ago Pyongyang raised the stakes in a stand-off at the world's last Cold War flashpoint by announcing plans to immediately reactivate the Yongbyon reactor, which was closed down in a 1994 agreement with the United States. But the U.S. official told Reuters: "Even as of today, there's no sign of any change on the ground in North Korea. Nothing, including no move to expel the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) monitors" at the Yongbyon nuclear site. On Thursday, another senior U.S. official said the North Koreans had not yet disconnected monitoring equipment, cameras and seals at the site. North Korea had asked the IAEA to unseal the plant and remove surveillance cameras. He noted the North Koreans were engaged in a dialogue with the IAEA, which monitors the Yongbyon facility, and said these exchanges have been helpful. But he took Pyongyang's December 12 statement on restarting the reactor seriously and "presumably at some stage they may choose to do this." Some officials believe Pyongyang made its threat largely in an attempt to influence the December 19 election in South Korea in which liberal ruling party candidate Roh Moo-hyun beat conservative Lee Hoi-chang. The United States favours a tougher line on communist North Korea than Roh, who has said he would never "kow tow" to Washington. "I think (the North) was trying to influence the South Korea election and now that they got Roh elected they are going to stop," one official said. Pyongyang announced plans to restart the reactor after the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union decided to halt heavy fuel oil deliveries to North Korea. The U.S. and its allies acted after the North acknowledged it had a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, which was also prohibited by the 1994 agreement. NON-AGGRESSION TREATY Under the 1994 accord, Pyongyang promised to freeze its nuclear programs in return for a $5 billion package that included two light-water nuclear reactors for power generation and 500,000 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil per year. U.S. intelligence has estimated the North produced one or two nuclear bombs. As part of the current dispute, North Korea is demanding the United States sign a non-aggression treaty but the Bush administration has refused any formal dialogue until Pyongyang dismantles the uranium enrichment program. Officials have refused to say how long the United States might wait for Pyongyang to take corrective action. Experts say that most nuclear activities Pyongyang might resume would take six months to several years to implement. While some analysts interpreted North Korea's announcement on restarting the nuclear reactor as an attempt to influence the South Korean elections, others said it was a last-ditch effort to force Washington to the negotiating table. ***************************************************************** 5 Congratulations to Roh from West, but silence from North 20 December, 2002 21:14 GMT+08:00 By Jane Macartney, Asian Diplomatic Correspondent SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Congratulations for South Korea's newly elected president, Roh Moo-hyun, arrived with diplomatic timeliness from his nearest friends and neighbours. North Korea was taking its time to respond. The hard-won victory by a self-taught lawyer who fought on a platform of generational change, standing up to the United States and engaging rival North Korea heralds a tricky and confusing time in relations in the region. Japan wanted to normalise ties but Pyongyang's admission that it abducted Japanese citizens to train its spies and that many had died has effectively put an end to talks. The United States won't talk until Pyongyang agrees to stop developing nuclear arms. China has backed that demand. Roh seems the most willing to talk. Despite the confusion, most neighbours and allies hurried to respond with diplomatic delight to Roh's victory. At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "The people of South Korea have once again demonstrated the enduring vitality and dynamism of democracy in their country. "South Korea is a close friend and ally of the United States, and (President George W. Bush) looks forward to working closely with President-elect Roh as the United States and the Republic of Korea address the many challenges and opportunities that we face together," he said. The U.S. remarks made the best of a leadership change that complicates its policy in the region by placing an untested wild card into the diplomatic mix. Japan greeted Roh's win with a mixture of relief that Seoul would keep open dialogue with Pyongyang and concern that anti-U.S. sentiment could make coordination with Washington tough. "We supported (outgoing President) Kim Dae-jung's 'sunshine policy' and I think the new president will also go with that policy," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, adding that three-way coordination among Japan, South Korea and the United States was vital. ENGAGING WITH THE NORTH Gaps have appeared in that coordination as Kim, and now possibly Roh, have gone it alone with engaging Pyongyang. Those cautious congratulations from North Korea's closest allies were more than matched by China, which remains Pyongyang's closest friend while becoming Seoul's third-largest trading partner. Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent Roh a cable to congratulate him. "The Chinese side wishes Korea under Roh Moo-hyun's leadership will attain new achievements in the future," Jiang said. "We believe Sino-Korean relations will become stronger and develop further through bilateral efforts." To the north of the 38th parallel that divides the two Koreas, Pyongyang ignored the election, but rolled out fresh anti-U.S. rhetoric. "The U.S. is the root cause of all the misfortune and sufferings the Koreans are undergoing and the biggest obstacle standing in the way of national reunification," Pyongyang's KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman as saying. "The U.S. imperialists should clearly understand that if the U.S. has a right to use nuclear weapons, the DPRK is entitled to counter it," the Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary, adding that war in Iraq could be a rehearsal to attack the North. "If the U.S. imperialists ignite a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, they themselves will be burnt to death in their flame," the official newspaper said. To the election of Roh there was no immediate response. Pyongyang could be weighing its words to ensure it starts off on the right side of a man who has said he wants engagement. The U.S. State Department "warmly" congratulated Roh, but recognised that the next few months may not be plain sailing. "I think we're going to have to wait until he's inaugurated and until he names his team and sit down and look at them face to face and find out what it is that we agree on and what it is that we disagree with," said Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly. ***************************************************************** 6 North Korea conducted 70 nuclear tests: Report * Seoul, December 18: * North Korea conducted high explosive tests for nuclear weapons after it agreed to freeze its nuclear program under a 1994 accord with US, a South Korean newspaper said today. Quoting government officials, Chosun Ilbo said North Korea carried out 70 high explosive tests since 1998 for its secret program to produce nuclear weapons-based on plutonium. US military intelligence passed on the information about the tests to South Korea?s joint chiefs of staff chairman Lee Nam-Shin on December 5 during high-level security talks in Washington, the daily said. South Korean officials refused to comment on the report which the newspaper said showed that the Stalinist country had violated the 1994 Accord freezing its plutonium-producing nuclear plants. ??On such reports, we will maintain our NCND (neither confirm nor deny) policy,?? a military official said.