NORTH KOREA – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  It's the usual story.  At some point we find out that our enemies are "further ahead" than we'd believed.  This time it's North Korea, and the issue is nuclear.  From AFP:  

Seoul (AFP) - New images of North Korea's main nuclear facility show that the isolated regime has apparently produced more plutonium for its weapons programme than previously thought, a US monitor said, as tensions soar over Pyongyang's ambitions.

The respected 38 North website, a monitoring project linked to Johns Hopkins university, said Friday that thermal imagery of the Yongbyon nuclear complex appeared to show that Pyongyang had reprocessed spent fuel rods at least twice between last September and June this year.

"The Radiochemical Laboratory operated intermittently and there have apparently been at least two unreported reprocessing campaigns to produce an undetermined amount of plutonium that can further increase North Korea's nuclear weapons stockpile," it said.

North Korea deactivated the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after Pyongyang's third nuclear test in 2013.

Increased thermal activity was also noted at Yongbyon's uranium enrichment facility but it was unclear whether this indicated a push to increase supplies, possibly for weapons, or if it was part of maintenance operations, the website said.

COMMENT:  We have gotten absolutely nowhere with North Korea.  Years of "agreements" and "strategic patience" have produced no reduction in the growing North Korean threat.

And yet, a military solution is almost too ghastly to contemplate, as even a single "punishment" strike could quickly turn into a major ground war with mass casualties.

Douglas MacArthur once said that all military disasters begin with two words:  too late.  We have been too late in dealing with North Korea, with one administration after the other kicking the can down the road.  Now Trump is stuck with the problem, and the opposition party will oppose him no matter what he does.

July 16,  2017