N Korea Fury Over Nuclear 'Breach'

BBC ^ | 11-29-2003 | Charles Scanlon

[blam]

N Korea fury over nuclear 'breach'

By Charles Scanlon
BBC correspondent in Seoul

North Korea has accused the United States of deliberately breaching a nuclear agreement between them - and says it wants compensation.

North Korea is angry that the US has pulled out of the power project An American-backed international consortium last week suspended work on power projects for the North, which were designed to replace its nuclear weapons programme.

The decision in effect suspended the nuclear accord of 1994.

At the time, the US agreed to back the construction of two nuclear power stations for the North if it scrapped its nuclear weapons programme.

The North's party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, described the move to pull the plug on the project as overt defiance and demanded compensation.

Security guarantees

North Korea says the project was years behind schedule and the US never had any intention of completing it.

The Bush administration, though, says the North broke the agreement first, by continuing to work on nuclear weapons in secret.

The acrimony over the 1994 agreement casts a shadow over current diplomatic efforts.

The US is preparing to offer security guarantees to North Korea in return for another promise to give up its nuclear ambitions.

The Communist state is expected to demand generous economic benefits as well, while holding out against rigorous verification procedures.

Hawks in Washington say Pyongyang cannot be trusted and fiercely oppose offering rewards.

But others say there is no reasonable alternative to diplomacy and negotiations.

[cars for sale]

I say shoot the bastard and the writter of this piece as well,but that's just me

[COBOL2Java]

The Potbellied Pinko continues to threaten its neighbors unless we feed them.

[thoughtomator]

In other news, Bill Clinton registered his outrage over Hillary's affair with Vince Foster.

[Dutch Boy]

So in a contract where two(2) sides agree on terms and conditions it's not the fault of the guy that break the core rules? Is NK being run by the ACLU? They should be lucky we didn't deliver a nuke via special delivery.

[Dog Gone]

There really is no way to undermine the government of North Korea. China is the only country with any significant leverage, and they're not going to be much help as long as the Taiwan issue exists.

We really only have two options: Continue to negotiate with a madman, or unload the contents of a Trident submarine on the country.

[sd-joe]

I vote for option #2.

[cars for sale]

amen to that

[skinkinthegrass]

#2, Please.. :/

[Steel Wolf]

Well, thankfully we'll soon have a Democratic president who will be willing to sit down and negotiate with the North Koreans. Hopefully we'll get the U.N. involved this time and see what we can do to help our international image. The North Koreans are reasonable and honorable people, and I'm sure if we offer them some economic incentives, they'll be willing to forgive our past transgressions against their national soviergnty and pride.

[expatpat]

I think there's a third, provided we have good enough Intelligence: Send in precision ordnance to take out surgically everything connected to their nuclear program

[Steel Wolf]

Okay, that just hurts to read. Next time I'll insert /sarcasm.

[I_saw_the_light]

LOL-Love your tag line, that also applies to Ted Kennedy doesnt it?

[Dog Gone]

I doubt we have good enough intelligence to do that. North Korea is the most closed, and distrustful, country on earth, and penetrating their military or government with our intelligence agents would be extremely difficult.

Even if we could do that, and have 100% confidence in identifying targets, some of those are likely to be underground or under a mountain, making a conventional strike ineffective.

Further, the conventional army is still capable of inflicting devastation on Seoul, from their thousands of artillery pieces alone. So, a surgical strike would unleash unacceptable consequences.

We either have to flatten the country, taking out the entire government and army, or we have to string them along diplomatically and hope to stall any offensive acts by them indefinitely.

Neither choice is perfect.

[tet68]

I say shoot the bastard and the writter of this piece as well,but that's just me

But others say there is no reasonable alternative to diplomacy and negotiations.


I say shoot the "others" too.

[cars for sale]

I luv your thinkin'

[Lancey Howard]

This guy, Yung Kow Poop (or whatever) hasn't figured out yet that Clinton is gone and the new guy doesn't pay extortion money.

[TheRightGuy]

and says it wants compensation

Ok, so let's drop a little compensation on'em.
Brighten up their day, and let them glow all night.

finis

[gitmo]

The tag was assumed.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

But others say there is no reasonable alternative to diplomacy and negotiations.

I thinks you just came up with a reasonable alternative...

I always liked the Bruce Willis line in "The Fifth Element":

ANYBODY ELSE WANT TO NEGOTIATE???

[Oorang]

The acrimony over the 1994 agreement casts a shadow over current diplomatic efforts.

Current diplomatic efforts??? Isn't this a bit of an oxymoron? I mean, how can the U.S. have any diplomatic efforts with the great Chia Head?

[Paul Ross]

Hawks in Washington say Pyongyang cannot be trusted and fiercely oppose offering rewards.

Right On! Wow. But really, Like this is rocket science! Or that it is even legitimately debatable about the 'trustworthiness' issue of North Korea.

But others say there is no reasonable alternative to diplomacy and negotiations.

Who are these worthless and spineless POS nameless 'others'??? U.S. State Dept. worms slithering around the Washington Post...

[Sofa King]

"Current diplomatic efforts??? Isn't this a bit of an oxymoron? I mean, how can the U.S. have any diplomatic efforts with the great Chia Head?"

No matter what Kim does or how ridiculous his demands are, there will always be a crowd of bowl floaters who are so much more interested in hating America than anything else that they'll accept his side of the issue.

[cpdiii]

We either have to flatten the country, taking out the entire government and army, or we have to string them along diplomatically and hope to stall any offensive acts by them indefinitely.

We could always just give them the nuclear weapons they want. I am sure the United States Navy could deliver them with great precision, where they are needed best.