North Korea accused of threats for gaining few billion dollars

Melbourne, May 26 (ANI): North Korea has once again managed to hog world attention through its latest nuclear test, according to the founder of Stratfor, a leading US intelligence group.

North Koreans were perhaps the cagiest negotiators in the world history, said George Friedman, the founder of Stratfor.

"Our view on Korea has been consistent - a country with the gross national product of Chad has manoeuvred into a position where the Americans, Russians, Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans are trying to form a policy to induce them to talk to us," he said.

Dr, Friedman, who was in Australia to attend the recent Sydney Writers Festival, said every few years North Korea had reached a settlement with the US and China, gained a few billion dollars, spent it, then blew something up again.

"Diplomats everywhere run around in circles," he said, adding a treaty will be signed and billions of dollars handed over for North Korea to go away.

The North Koreans appeared to have exploded a nuclear device smaller than the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, but which was still far short of being a useable nuclear weapon, News.com.au reports.

Going from a device to a weapon was extraordinarily difficult and required miniaturisation and ruggedisation so it could survive takeoff on a missile and re-entry, Dr. Friedman said.

"They are so far away from a weapon that it is very difficult to calculate. But I am sure it is worth 4000 billion dollars to shut them up and have them go away for a while until the Dear Leader croaks and somebody else takes over," he added. (ANI)