-
Iran and North Korea Targeted by American Nuclear Weapons
Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facilities at Isfahan. Bahrain’s crown prince has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so — the first time an Arab state in the Gulf has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear drive.
Iran and North Korea’s choice for continued negotiations to rid the world of their nuclear ambitions with the United States.
The nuclear warheads resting on ballistic missiles in silos, circling the globe in submarines or carried—sometimes mistakenly—by aircraft hail from an era when the U.S. targeted its largest foe, the U.S.S.R. and, more recently, Russia and China. But a document newly obtained by the Washington, D.C.–based Federation of American Scientists (FAS)—founded by the creators of the original nuclear bomb in 1945 and monitoring the weapons ever since—reveals that in recent years the U.S. target list has expanded to include so-called “regional proliferators,” smaller states seeking to acquire such weapons of mass destruction.
The United States has options but MUST press these rogue regimes to accept peaceful resolution of non-proliferation.
Surrender is NOT an option for America.
Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: Are the Latest U.S. Sanctions the Last Stop Before Military Action?
Technorati Tags: Iran, North Korea, Federation of American Scientists
-
North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities
Satellite image of North Korea’s nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. North Korea has agreed to disable the facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex by December 31 under US supervision, according to a six-nation agreement released by China.
North Korea agrees to disable nuke plant
North Korea agreed to provide a “complete and correct declaration” of its nuclear programs and will disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31 under an agreement reached by North Korea and five other countries released Wednesday.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said as part of the agreement, the U.S. will take the lead in seeing that the facilities are disabled and will fund those initial activities.
“The DPRK agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities subject to abandonment under the Sept. 2005 joint statement and Feb. 13 agreement.
“The disablement of the five megawatt experimental reactor at Yongbyon, the reprocessing plant at Yongbyon and the nuclear fuel rod fabrication facility at Yongbyon will be completed by 31 December 2007,” Wu said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The agreement came after negotiations last week in Beijing involving China, the U.S., Japan, Russia and South and North Korea. It puts in writing a verbal promise that North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan gave to U.S. envoy Christopher Hill a month ago.
More good news out of North Korea.
But, Flap cannot help but note national missile defense which in some way drove Kim Jong-Il to the bargaining table.
And remember North Korea has a way in abrogating agreements so trust but verify here.
Denuclearization is the next step – the removal of all fissonable material from North Korea and the removval of their existing nuclear weapons.
Stay tuned…..
Previous:
North Korea Watch: North Korea to Delcare and Dismantle ALL Nuclear Facilities By the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: IAEA Inspectors Reach Nuclear Agreement
North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor
North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear TalksNorth Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: North Korea to Delcare and Dismantle ALL Nuclear Facilities By the End of 2007
Sitting in the garden, Christopher Hill, right, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Six-Party Talks, speaks with North Korean chief negotiator Kim Gye Gwan, back towards camera, during the bilateral meeting of USA and North Korea, at the mission of North Korea in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007. The talks held in Geneva, led by U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill and North Korea’s negotiator Kim Gye Gwan, are about the normalization of the relations between the U.S. and North Korea and about the North Korean nuclear program.
North Korea agreed Sunday to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of the year, the chief U.S. negotiator said — the first time the communist country has offered a timeline to end its secretive atomic program.
The North Korean envoy, in separate comments, told reporters his country was willing “to declare and dismantle” its nuclear program, but mentioned no dates.
Before announcing the timetable, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said improving relations between the two countries, long estranged, was dependent on a North Korea free of nuclear weapons.
It “is a relationship that we will continue to try to build step by step with the understanding that we’re not going to have a normalized relationship until we have a denuclearized North Korea.”
Hours later, he said he and his North Korean counterpart had agreed that North Korea “will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007.”
Is this a Bush foreign policy success?
Trust but verify. But, certainly this diplomatic progress is preferable to Kim Jong-Il shooting missiles at Hawaii.
Stay tuned……
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill holds a press conference in Geneva. Hill has said that North Korea has agreed to make a full declaration of all its nuclear programmes and to disable them by the end of the year.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: IAEA Inspectors Reach Nuclear Agreement
North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor
North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear TalksNorth Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: IAEA Inspectors Reach Nuclear Agreement
Olli Heinonen, left, deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is interviewed by the media upon his arrival at a Pyongyang hotel on Friday June 29, 2009, following his visit to the Yongbyon nuclear complex. UN nuclear monitors said Friday they were able to see all the facilities they wanted on their visit to the plutonium-producing reactor that North Korea has pledged to shut down in return for aid.
U.N. inspectors, North Korea reach deal
The U.N. nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the country’s main nuclear reactor, a top official said Friday.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned Friday to the North Korean capital from a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, broadcaster APTN reported.
It was the first IAEA visit to the facility since U.N. monitors were expelled from the country in 2002.
“We have concluded this understanding, what our monitoring and verification activities are in principle,” IAEA Deputy Director Olli Heinonen said in footage shot by APTN.
This may be one of President Bush’s and Condoleezza Rice’s biggest foreign policy accomplishments. Just a year ago, North Korea was testing a prototype ICBM and shooting it at Hawaii.
Now, North Korea is closing down its nuclear program and facilities.
But, the United States must TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Stay tuned……
A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor
North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear TalksNorth Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: US-NK Set Timetable to Shut Down Yongbyon Reactor
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, left, and South Korea’s Foreign Minister Song Min-soon pose for the media prior to their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 22, 2007. Hill said Friday that North Korea is prepared to promptly carry out a pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor, but warned that the country’s complete denuclearization will not be easy.
US-NKorea set timetable to shut reactor
Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North’s plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday.
Christopher Hill — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs — said in response to reporters’ questions on arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport that they were looking at “a three-week timeframe … starting Friday” for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor.
Hill arrived in Tokyo Saturday to brief his Japanese counterpart on the outcome of his two-day surprise trip to the North Korean capital.
Good news but the Unites States must push ahead.
Trust But Verify.
Stay tuned……
A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear Talks
North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: Hill Visits North Korea to Accelerate Six Party Nuclear Talks
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill, right, is greeted by Ri Gun, vice director of North Korean Foreign Ministry’s U.S. Affairs Department, left, in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Thursday June 21, 2007. The high-ranking U.S. envoy made a rare trip to North Korea on Thursday in a surprise bid to accelerate the international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
U.S. nuclear envoy visits North Korea
The chief U.S. nuclear envoy made a rare trip to North Korea on Thursday in a surprise bid to accelerate international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill’s trip came ahead of the expected resumption of six-nation talks next month following the resolution of a key financial dispute that had blocked progress.
The trip is Hill’s first to North Korea, as well as the first by a U.S. nuclear envoy since the latest crisis with the North over its nuclear development began in late 2002.
The United States wants to end North Korea’s nuclear program. The North Koreans and Kim Jong-Il have a history of abrogating “DEALS”.
So, Christopher Hill is in North Korea to seal the deal after the transfer of the Macau funds and the transfer of fuel oil.
“I think the U.S. is trying to keep North Korea from dragging its feet any longer” now that the banking dispute is resolved, said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University. “Unless something is done right now, North Korea could stall for time on another pretext.”
Nam said the North appears to want to reaffirm concessions it would get from Washington before it closes down and seals the reactor, including removing Pyongyang from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.
Hill planned consultations Thursday and Friday on the nuclear issue “to move the process forward,” the State Department said in a statement.
The Clinton administration allowed North Korea to develop their nuclear program by weakness and diplomatic neglect.
This won’t happen again.
Stay tuned……..
A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: Hill – North Korea to Disable ALL Nuclear Facilities by the End of 2007
*****UPDATE*****
 North Korea plans to shut reactor in July: report
North Korea plans to seal its nuclear reactor, the source of weapons-grade plutonium, in the second half of July, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing an unidentified North Korean diplomatic source.
“To stop the reactor, it will take about a month according to our specialists,” the North Korean source was quoted as saying by Interfax.
“So we are counting on sealing it in the second half of July, in accordance with the agreements reached at the six-party talks,” the source said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (L) and South Korea’s chief envoy to six-way talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear program Chun Yung-woo speak to reporters after their dinner at a hotel in Seoul June 18, 2007. The chief U.S. envoy in nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea said on Monday he hopes moves toward ending Pyongyang’s nuclear armament program can return to a tight timeline now that a banking dispute has been settled.
Envoy Sees North Korea Progress
North Korea could be ready to begin shutting its plutonium producing reactor within weeks as the first step toward disabling the unit by the end of this year, the top American negotiator on the North’s nuclear weapons program said here today.
Christopher Hill, an assistant secretary of state, said stalled efforts to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons program could move ahead after a pivotal weekend when Pyongyang invited inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit for talks on verifying and monitoring a shutdown.
â€This is an event we have been looking forward to for some time,†Mr. Hill said following talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.
Today, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said it would send a team to Pyongyang next week to discuss how its inspectors would verify the shutdown, The Associated Press reported from Vienna.
Good news but Flap worries that North Korea has reneged before – so TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Also, word from Pyongyang is that the 65 year old Kim Jong-Il is ill and there appears a void in the leadership to succeed him.
Will this spell trouble for the conclusion of the agreement?
Stay tuned…….
A satellite image from DigitalGlobe taken on January 5, 2006 shows the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea.
Previous:
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear WeaponsNorth Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: North Korea’s Invite to the IAEA Welcome as Good News
North Korea’s capital Pyongyang is seen June 14, 2007. North Korea’s state news agency said late on Saturday the communist country had invited a working-level delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit.
Move by North Korea to Allow Inspectors Is Welcomed
Officials in South Korea and the United States today welcomed a move by North Korea to invite the United Nations nuclear watchdog back to the Communist state for the first time in four and a half years to discuss shutting down the North’s main nuclear complex.
In an announcement carried by its official press media, North Korea said late Saturday that it had sent the invitation to the International Atomic Energy Agency because a banking dispute with Washington that had been blocking progress toward the North’s nuclear disarmament â€has reached its final phase.â€
â€We welcome the North Korean move as good news,†Han Hye Jin, a spokeswoman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said today by telephone. â€We hope the Feb. 13 agreement will be implemented as quickly as possible following consultations between North Korea and I.A.E.A.â€
â€This is a good step,†said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. He echoed Ms. Han’s hopes that the Feb. 13 agreement, in which North Korea said it would close its main nuclear complex, would be implemented.
North Korea did not clarify whether the invitation meant that it would start shutting down its reactor, which produces raw material for bomb-making plutonium.
North Korea initially agreed on Feb. 13 to close its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, south of Pyongyang, by April 14 and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor and verify the action, in a first significant step toward what Washington hopes will the North’s complete dismantling of all nuclear weapons facilities. But that step has been delayed for more than two months, raising doubts about the deal struck among the United States, North Korea and four other countries.
The invitation from Pyongyang came after North Korean funds frozen at Banco Delta Asia, a small bank in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macao, finally began to be transferred last week.
North Korea is already two months behind in their schedule to start dismantling their nuclear facilities. This may be a welcome sign but the United States must be prepared to enforce further economic sanctions should Kim Jong-Il renege on the deal.
Stay tuned…..
Previous:
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons
North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: North Korea Continues to Develop Nuclear Weapons
Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans with a defaced North Korean flag at a protest demanding disarmament of North Korea’s nuclear weapons in Seoul June 15, 2007. The path to disarming North Korea of its nuclear weapons will prove much harder than clearing a deadlock over its funds that took nearly two years, South Korea’s chief envoy to six-way talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programmes, was quoted as saying on Friday.
U.S. intelligence agencies think North Korea is continuing development of nuclear weapons, as well as working on “miniaturization” of weapons for missile warheads, according to a senior Bush administration official.
Since the February nuclear accord reached in Beijing, North Korea has continued work on weapons, said a senior Bush administration official involved in North Korean affairs.
“There are no indications that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, to include the weaponization and miniaturization,” the official said.
U.S. intelligence officials think North Korea, which received equipment through the covert Pakistani nuclear-supplier network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, obtained Chinese documents on designing a small warhead, the key to developing a nuclear weapon small enough for missile warheads.
The Chinese-language warhead design documents were first uncovered in Libya, which gave up its nuclear program in 2003.
Three recent missile tests in North Korea over the past several weeks were anti-ship cruise missiles fired during exercises that were not unusual for North Korean military forces at this time of year, the official said.
“Those who are looking at the six-party process and where we are today with [the Banco Delta Asia funds transfer] are very disappointed,” the senior official said. “This doesn’t build confidence. This is a time that is very tense and we want to go to implementing the 13 February agreement. So even though this is a normal exercises, I think there is an element of disappointment that North Korea would move in that direction.”
North Korea has shown no signs of preparing of another underground nuclear test but “they could have a nuclear test at any time with minimal or no warning,” the official said.
The October test was a “nuclear event” but the blast caused by the test was smaller than North Korea had hoped, the official said.
Does America have another surprise awaiting this 4th of July? Remember when Kim Jong-Il test fired a missile towards Hawaii last year?
There needs to be resolution of these negotiations or UN sanctions should resume against North Korea.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il
-
North Korea Watch: Deal or NO Deal?
AFP: Bush should reject North Korea nuclear deal: ex-UN envoy
US President George W. Bush should reject an agreement reached at six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, said Washington’s former UN envoy, John Bolton.
“This is a very bad deal,” Bolton told CNN television, saying it contradicts Bush’s policy and would show US weakness at a time when it is challenging Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
“I’m hoping that the president has not been fully briefed on it and he still has time to reject it,” he said.
He said the agreement, which needs the approval of the six governments involved in the talks, “undercuts” UN sanctions resolutions against North Korea, “and I think the Iranians have only to follow the same example.”
“If the would-be proliferators can simply through persistence get the United States to compromise on its basic principles, they’re going to succeed in proliferation. That’s why this deal is such a bad precedent,” Bolton said.
China circulated Tuesday a “final” joint statement outlining the first steps North Korea would take to end its nuclear drive and the economic rewards it would receive in return, said envoys meeting in Beijing.
Officials have yet to specify the details of the new joint statement, but they made it clear that North Korea would be given rich incentives in terms of oil and other energy aid if it took first steps towards disarming.
The chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, described the text as “excellent.”
Flap heard Bolton on the Laura Ingraham Show this mornng and he made a convincing argument against the DEAL.
Somehow Bolton is more articulate in the private sector working for the American Enterprise Institute than as a Bush Administration parrot.
James S. Robbins: Deal or No Deal
What’s Korean for “sucker?â€
North Korea’s chief arms negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, is known as “the Smiling Assassin.†Do you suppose the North Koreans use similar grudgingly respectful terms to describe their American counterparts? Somehow I doubt it. Check out the terms of the latest agreement with North Korea. Pyongyang gets $400 million in aid, chiefly in the form of energy, and we ease economic sanctions. In return they agree to begin to give up the means to produce new nuclear weapons, and establish working groups to discuss maybe shutting down their nuclear program at some future date as yet undetermined. They also get to maintain their current nuclear stockpile. The deal is a dramatic diplomatic victory, but unfortunately not for the U.S.
Read it all.
What yesterday was optimism is now the question: Deal or No Deal?
NO DEAL, continue hastened deployment of National Missile Defense and tighten sanctions.
America can do better.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
North Korea Watch: North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
North Korea Watch: North Korea Tentatively Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament
Iran Nuclear Watch: North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Testing
North Korea Watch: North Korea Wants United Nations Sanctions Lifted
North Korea Watch: Bush Warns North Korea – “Don’t Transfer Nukesâ€
North Korea Watch: A Return to 6 Party Talks – A Diplomatic Win for President Bush
North Korea Watch: Pyongyang Threatens War Against South Korea
North Korea Watch: Kim Jong-Il REGRETS Nuclear Test
North Korea Nuclear Watch: President Bush – United States WILL Stop North Korean Nuclear Transfers
North Korea Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Promises United States Defense of Japan
Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il