More on the NK nuke test

From The Washington Post:

TOKYO, Oct. 9 -- North Korea declared on Monday that it had conducted its first nuclear test, asserting a claim to be the world's newest nuclear power and drawing strong international condemnation.

The South Korean government informed officials in Washington that an explosion occurred at 10:36 a.m. local time. Minutes later, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency announced the test, calling it "a historical event that has brought our military and our people huge joy."

Chinese officials released a statement simultaneously recognizing and condemning the test. U.S., South Korean and Japanese authorities said they were still reviewing intelligence data but had no reason to immediately doubt the veracity of the Pyongyang government's claim.

The announcement brought a hailstorm of swift international denunciations and touched off a chain reaction of security jitters that caused the Japanese yen to fall to seven-month lows and sent the South Korean currency and stock market plunging. South Korean officials said they detected a significant man-made explosion in the barren northeast of the peninsula, and were substantiating the Pyongyang government's claim. The test would make the Stalinist state the world's eighth proven nuclear power, as well as its most volatile.

Some thoughts:

One, I thought that the Clinton Administration got the North Koreans to agree not to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for a large aid package. Madeline Albright trusted them! Bill Clinton trusted them! Could they have been wrong about anything else!?!

Two, I thought our intelligence agencies were telling us that it would be five years before North Korea's weapons program could produce a working bomb. Does this mean we should be skeptical about their projections that it will be five or more years before the Iranian program can produce a working bomb?

Three, will the voting public remember that this was another "big issue" which the Clinton Administration could have taken on, but chose to avoid by getting an "agreement" which not one person with an IQ in the double digits believed that they would honor?

Four, the American people have proven that they will not support any military operation, no matter how necessary, that lasts for more than about 6 months. Can we invade North Korea, kill Kim and the other top government officials, locate and capture or destroy their estimated 10 other nuclear bombs, and destroy all of their nuclear research and production facilities as well as kill all of the scientists and engineers involved in the program in less than 6 months?

Five, will the voting public wake up and understand how dangerous the world is and how great a disaster it will be to turn over political control of the nation to the party of appeasement and surrender?