THE COLD TEST
What the Administration knew about Pakistan and the North Korean nuclear program.
by Seymour M. Hersh

One American intelligence official who has attended recent White House meetings cautioned against relying on the day-to-day Administration statements that emphasize a quick settlement of the dispute. The public talk of compromise is being matched by much private talk of high-level vindication. "Bush and Cheney want that guy's head"—Kim Jong Il's—"on a platter. Don't be distracted by all this talk about negotiations. There will be negotiations, but they have a plan, and they are going to get this guy after Iraq. He's their version of Hitler."
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  thanks to Talking Points Memo

Tunneling Toward Disaster

With the North Korean crisis likely to become much more dangerous than the American public appreciates, I came here to a hillside on the Demilitarized Zone to peer into a tunnel six feet wide and six feet high, 220 feet below the surface, leading north.

This is one of four North Korean infiltration tunnels discovered over the years. Each is capable of transporting 10,000 soldiers per hour behind South Korean defensive lines, and the biggest can accommodate jeeps and artillery. Based on defector interviews, the spooks believe that there are at least 15 more tunnels that haven't been found yet, and that some reach nearly to Seoul.

Unless President Bush more clearly changes course to negotiate with North Korea, there's a growing risk that these tunnels could be used. Distrust the hopeful noises peeping periodically from diplomats in the region — it'll be very difficult to reach a deal in which North Korea gives up its nuclear projects. We may have to brace ourselves for Kim Jong Il's turning out nukes like hotcakes, for growing tension in the region, and for a greatly heightened risk of another Korean War. The North's nuclear program could produce 200 warheads by 2010, and 58 more annually after that.
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Smiling through with Kelly
But talks to end North Korea's nuclear defiance are nowhere in sight