The AP has added this breaking news update to its story on the North Korean nuclear test and missile launches:
North Korea’s military says it considers South Korea’s participation in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction tantamount to a declaration of war against the North.
The communist North’s military said in a statement Wednesday that it will respond with “immediate, strong military measures” if the South actually stops and searches any North Korean ships under the Proliferation Security Initiative.
The statement, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, said North Korea no longer considers itself bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War, as a protest over the South’s participation.
South Korea announced its participation in the anti-proliferation program Tuesday, one day after the North conducted a nuclear test.
One might reasonably wonder if the North Korean challenge constitutes the “testing” foreseen by Joe Biden when he beseeched Obama supporters at a Seattle fundraiser to “gird their loins.”
“Mark my words,” Biden said. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy.” Expanding on his thought, Biden sought to impress his point on the audience: “Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
In a long career as a senatorial blowhard, Biden may never have uttered truer words. They certainly added up to a more powerful case against Obama than John McCain ever made during the campaign.
In his remarks Biden contemplated “four or five scenarios” that might give rise to the test. My guess is that the North Korean challenge is a warmup for the test contemplated in Biden’s remarks. Either way, unfortunately, Obama doesn’t seem to be passing, or even to understand that he is being tested.
Via NRO’s Web briefing.
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