North Korea Has Weapon-Grade Uranium: Condaleeza Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, in the last hours of the Bush Administration, has warned that North Korea is still up to no good and may still be aiming to produce atomic weapons. According to Global Security Newswire today: There are indications that North Korea is in possession of weapon-grade uranium, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week (see GSN, Jan. 15). Yes, predictably, the Russians have a role in all of this. "I think the intelligence community now believes that there is an undisclosed either imported or manufactured weapons-grade HEU in North Korea," Rice said in an interview with the Washington Post editorial board....U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper this week that greater-than-anticipated numbers of uranium particles had been found on North Korean aluminum piping turned over to the United States during the denuclearization process. Washington suspects that Pyongyang acquired the pipe from Russia and used it in a uranium enrichment centrifuge, Yomiuri reported. Full Article at Global Security Newswire... It will be difficult for critics of the Bush Administration to accuse Rice of playing politics, inasmuch as she will be Secretary of State for less than two more days. She's sounded the alarm, and the ball will be in Barack Obama's court within a matter of hours. Let's hope Mr. Obama doesn't fumble it. Subscribe to Chicago News Bench