North Korea Watch: Direct Talks with the United States?
This is an Orbview-3 satellite image provided by GeoEye showing the Taepodong missile launch complex in North Korea, called Musudan-ri, in May 2006. North Korea referred to its missile program Monday, June 19, 2006 in its official media for the first time since it apparently began preparations for a test launch, as a U.S. official confirmed the North has completed fueling a missile that is poised to fire.
AP: North Korea wants direct talks with U.S.
North Korea said Wednesday it wants direct talks with the United States over its apparent plans to test-fire a long-range missile, a day after the country issued a bristling statement in which it declared its right to carry out the launch.
Tensions in the region have soared following intelligence reports that the North was fueling a ballistic missile believed capable of reaching U.S. territory. The U.S. and Japan have said they could consider sanctions against the impoverished country if it goes ahead, and Washington was weighing responses that could include attempting to shoot the missile down.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung cited the missile crisis as the reason for canceling a trip next week to the North that could have offered a rare chance for talks to soothe tensions.
North Korea said in comments published Wednesday that its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles from 1999 no longer applies because it’s not in direct dialogue with Washington, suggesting it would hold off on any launch if Washington agreed to new talks.
“Some say our missile test launch is a violation of the moratorium, but this is not the case,” Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency in an interview from New York.
“North Korea as a sovereign state has the right to develop, deploy, test fire and export a missile,” he said. “We are aware of the U.S. concerns about our missile test-launch. So our position is that we should resolve the issue through negotiations.”
Pyongyang has consistently pressed for direct dialogue with the United States, while Washington insists it will only speak to the North at six-nation nuclear talks. The North has refused to return to those nuclear talks since November because of a U.S. crackdown on the country’s alleged illicit financial activity.
A commercial satellite photo of North Korea’s Nodong missile launch site taken on by a Digital Globe satellite and annotated and released by analysts at GlobalSecurity.org on May 24, 2006. The United States and Japan warned North Korea on Monday against a missile launch that experts say could reach as far as Alaska and threatened harsh action if the test flight goes ahead.
These Axis of Evil countries are very good at creating a crisis and then wishing to negotiate.
Threaten and then bargain is their modus operandi.
Will the United States call North Korea’s bluff and take out that missile before it is launched?
Or is North Korea bluffing in order to seek negotiated concessions from Washington?
A big world poker game?
You bet…….
Flap handicaps a North Korea stand down and a return to the bargaining table for all parties.
Stay tuned…..
Picture released on June 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. North Korea has offered the United States talks on its missile launch plans, indicating it might put off a flight test that has raised tension and drawn sharp international warnings
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North Korea Watch: Korea Says it “Is NOT Bound†by Missile Test Ban
North Korea Watch: United States Activates Missile Defense Shield – Part 2
North Korea Watch: United States Activates Missile Defense Shield
North Korea Watch: North Korea Threatens to “Mercilessly Wipe Out†US Forces In Case of War
North Korea Watch: Preparing to Launch A Long Range Ballistic Missile?
North Korea Watch: North Koreans Can and Have Made a Few Nuclear Devices
North Korea Harvesting More Plutonium for Nuclear Weapons
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