Posted on 09/19/2005 6:26:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea demanded Tuesday that the United States give it a light water nuclear reactor before it rejoins the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and ends its weapons program.
The North's Foreign Ministry made the demand a day after it agreed at six-nation talks in Beijing to give up its arms efforts, rejoin the treaty, and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We will return to the NPT and sign the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the U.S. provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building to us," the ministry said in the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
During the talks, North Korea had demanded that it be given the light water reactor — a type less easily diverted for weapons use — but Washington had said it and other participating countries wouldn't meet that request.
A joint statement issued at the Beijing talks' conclusion indicated that question was being put aside for the time being: "The other parties expressed their respect and agreed to discuss at an appropriate time the subject of the provision of light-water reactor" to North Korea.
The joint statement said the North "committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date" to the treaty.
"The six parties unanimously reaffirmed that the goal of the six-party talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," it said.
However, the North appeared to take a markedly different interpretation of that agreement, saying in its Tuesday statement said that its most serious differences with the U.S. was the North's "right to nuclear activity for a peaceful purpose, to be specific, the issue of the U.S. provision of light water reactors (LWR) to the former."
The envoys — from China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas — agreed to return in early November to begin hashing out details of how to implement the broad principles outlined in Monday's agreement.
Besides North Korea and the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea participated in the talks. Their statement was the first breakthrough since the negotiations began in August 2003.
I've heard that people in hell demand ice water too. :-)
I demand a pony for Christmas.
Let's go back to being stupid. We can pretend this little song and dance hasn't been played out dozens of times before.
I see how it works.
1. Agree to a plan that makes everyone happy. 2. Make a last minute demand that you know the US can't and won't meet. 3. Make everyone mad at the US for ruining the deal.
Did they stomp their feet and throw themselves on the floor?
I thought der Schlickmiester already gave them one afew years ago.
They'll have to settle for an old VHS tape of Jennifer dancing and sweating instead.
I mean the loud and obnoxious Jennifer Lopez of course.
I am sure N. Korea figures it's time to call in Jimmy Carter.
We don't have any.
That didn't take long did it? Like Hey Kim Jong "Mentally" Ill, Clintoon ain't in charge no mo.
I will encourage my congresscritter to tell them no problem. We just have a little problem with conversion. We can cheerfully send a few megaTONS, in short order. Since they are so brilliant, they can figure out how to slow down the reaction process from 18k feet, and convert it into megawattage.
Otherwise, they can not print enough of their worthless currency to pay the freight on the blueprints. Let alone the materials and labor for a reactor.
We having built a nuke reactor for quite a while. If we have a new experimental design that would be light year ahead, but there may be a safety issue, I say we give it to Kim Jong as a pilot program. If it doesn't blow on its own, it's a success (then we push the self destruct button). If it does blow, then its a bigger success.
Well, let them get one from their great friends and patrons the Chinese. IIRC, the United States is not even making power reactors.
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