North Korea Remaining Defiant Over Nuclear Program
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea is remaining defiant over its nuclear program. A commentary in today's ruling party newspaper says, and I quote, "When the U.S. makes a surprise attack on our peaceful nuclear facilities, it will spark off a total war. It is foolish for the United States to think that we sit idle with folded arms to wait until it gives orders for forestalling attack to be started. CNN's Mike Chinoy is with U.S. troops at a live fire training facility in South Korea.</s>MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are M1-A1 Abrams tanks belonging to Delta Company of the U.S. Army's 72nd Armored Regiment. They're waiting their turn at this firing range about 10 kilometers south of the Korean demilitarized zone. These tanks are equipped with machine guns and can fire 120 millimeter shells, which is what they've been doing, into the hills behind me. Their commanders say this is a routine operation, but these days in the Korean Peninsula nothing is routine. And that goes for North Korea's announcement that it had resumed "normal operations" at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Officially, the North Koreans say, the operations are designed to generate electricity. But many experts believe that the facility there is not capable of really producing electricity and believe it is much more likely to be devoted to making nuclear weapons. Indeed, the North Korean statement said that for the moment activities at Yongbyon are for peaceful purposes, but it said that was only at the present time. That leaves open the possibility that North Korea is laying the groundwork to openly declare itself a nuclear power at some point in the near future. The North Koreans continue to signal that they want to negotiate with the United States to end this crisis, but the message from the latest North Korea actions appears to be that in the absence of negotiations, the regime in Pyongyang is moving full speed ahead to make itself a nuclear power. Mike Chinoy, CNN, near the Korean demilitarized zone.