MEDIA REACTION - NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR TEST

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 002097 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, EAP/K E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC CI KN SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR TEST On October 4, private Chilevision international pundit Raul Sohr said: "No one knows exactly what is going on in North Korea, except that the country is suffering from a serious hunger crisis, a very harsh winter is being forecasted, and every time there is a difficult situation in that country, it resurrects the issue of rockets and nuclear arms. The situation is very delicate. The government has alerted that it will detonate a nuclear arm in the next few weeks, and usually it keeps its promises. This could generate a chain reaction, because when one lets the genie out of the bottle, you cannot turn back. This would mean South Korea and Japan would try to obtain nuclear arms. Both have a greed for nuclear weapons and this would give them the perfect excuse, generating yet a more unstable situation.... China has some influence over North Korea, and it has tried to exert moderate pressure by telling North Korea it cannot go forward with this idea. But it has not been listening that much to China." KELLY