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DE RUEHSO #1071 2831243
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O 101243Z OCT 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5881
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 6931
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7497
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2590

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 001071 
 
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STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC: DPRK NUCLEAR TEST; 
SAO PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "Geopolitical Bomb" 
 
Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo 
(10/10) editorialized: "The announcement of the North Korean nuclear 
test puts the world at risk to the dangers of [nuclear] 
proliferation. It will be no surprise if, in view of the new 
geopolitical reality, both Japan and South Korea decide to develop 
their own nuclear weapons. Japan had already signaled with a 
possible review of the anti-militarist policy it adopted after being 
defeated in WWII. Globally speaking, the enlargement of the nuclear 
club tends to encourage Iran's appetite, a fact that would bring 
additional instability to the already disturbed Middle East. 
Therefore, the situation demands a UN's unequivocal response.... It 
is hard to know what dictator Kim Jon Il wants with that 
demonstration. If he had plans to obtain concessions and advantages 
from its neighbors and the West, he should never have abandoned the 
area of rhetorical threats. By showing that he already possesses the 
bomb, Kim Jon Il practically annuls any value that a suspension of 
his nuclear program could have. By exploding the bomb, Kim has just 
undermined his relations with China, the only nation formally 
aligned with North Korea. Particularly in regards to Beijing a 
remilitarized Japan and a nervous South Korea is not helpful. North 
Korea's initiative shows the flaws in the non-proliferation system. 
It is time for the great powers to carry out a wide review of their 
unbalanced policies. It is not possible for the US to reward India 
for having developed a bomb and not expect that other nations feel 
the same right to do so." 
 
¶2. "North Korea Tests The Bomb" 
 
An editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (10/10) commented: 
"Pressures from everywhere in the world in recent months were 
worthless: North Korea carried out Sunday night an underground 
nuclear test.... There was a time when the North Korean government 
could count on the benevolence of some nations, which took direct or 
indirect advantage from its policies of irresponsible challenges. 
China, for example, used its former ally - by avoiding that the 
Security Council imposed serious sanctions on Pyongyang - to 
undermine the US policy in Asia and keep Japan under constant 
tension. France stalled for time with North Korea whenever it saw in 
such an attitude a means to jeopardize the US global, political and 
military hegemony. Now the situation has changed. Kim Jong Il's 
excesses have been so many that even China feels threatened by North 
Korea's irresponsible nuclear hazardous enterprise.... China, Japan 
and South Korea have objective reasons to fear this nuclear 
threat.... Kim Jon Il has already shown that to make his nation a 
nuclear power he does not hesitate to condemn his nation to extreme 
poverty and endemic hunger.  The international community must put an 
end to such madness." 
McMullen