If you liked the way the new year started in North Korea, you’re gonna love 2013. Reuters reports this morning that Pyongyang has told China it will conduct one or even two more nuclear tests this year and another long-range missile mission. They want to break up the six-nation talks and force the US to negotiate directly with the Kim regime:

North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks with Pyongyang, said a source with direct knowledge of the message.

Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source who has direct access to the top levels of government in both Beijing and Pyongyang.

The isolated regime conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing global condemnation and a stern warning from the United States that it was a threat and a provocation.

“It’s all ready. A fourth and fifth nuclear test and a rocket launch could be conducted soon, possibly this year,” the source said, adding that the fourth nuclear test would be much larger than the third at an equivalent of 10 kilotons of TNT.

The tests will be undertaken, the source said, unless Washington holds talks with North Korea and abandons its policy of what Pyongyang sees as attempts at regime change.

Were we pursuing a policy of regime change? We’d probably like that, but that sounds more like paranoia. During the Bush administration, that seemed much more the case, as the direction of US policy recognized that North Korea had already gone nuclear, and that the issue was now the leaders with their fingers on the button. Remember Bush’s “axis of evil” remark? The Obama administration has taken a much softer tone while trying to keep the six-nation talks in process, and not having any more luck at that than Bush.

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Read more:http://hotair.com/archives/2013/02/15/no...ests-this-year/