Posted on 07/13/2007 10:43:31 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea: We Will Talk With U.S. But Not South Korea
JULY 14, 2007 04:44
North Korea suggested a DPRK-U.S. military meeting to discuss issues related to establishing peace on the Korean peninsula and a security guarantee for the North yesterday. The North excluded the South from this suggestion.
In a press conference with Lee Chan Bok, a lieutenant general who is in charge of the North Korean Peoples Army at the Panmunjeom area, said, We should meet and talk about peace and security guarantee issues at a venue and time the two parties (North Korea and the U.S.) agree on.
It remains to be seen what the true intentions of the North are, as its suggestion came when the Norths compliance with the 2.13 agreement, including the dismantlement of its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon is near, and the six-party talks between senior negotiators are due to be held on July 18.
Lee said in a press conference, Our nuclear issue is intricately linked with that of the U.S. When our people are left with no option but to live under the constant U.S. nuclear threat, the U.S. mentioning the denuclearization and nuclear threat posed by us is ludicrous.
He added, If the U.S. continues to pressure us under the false pretense of the nuclear issue, and to beef up military power in the South, we have no choice but to respond to them thoroughly in order to defend ourselves. When that happens, the 2.13 agreement or future six-party talks will disappear into thin air.
Lee Jae-jeong, the minister of Unification, said, We need to find out why the North asked to hold the talks without us. Issues related to the easing of military tensions and establishing peace on the Korean peninsula need to be brought up through inter-Korean dialogues. He also said, We need to take a closer look at possible ties between discussing peace on the peninsula on the side of the six-party talks suggested by the North and inter-Korean military meetings.
Ping!
I will talk with my former mother-in law but not my deceased father-in-law. I have a brother and a sister. My papa dont like my mama who hasnt been around since 1973.
Got a better suggestion, cut off all the aid, let the dictatorship fall apart, and stand ready to help all those who will be starving before someone submits to reason.
(Korea has an election law requiring, roughly, no “negative campaigning”. There is a National Election Commission, who are not pushovers, to enforce it. Roh is up for election and is in pretty deep doo-doo with this National Election Commission and Roh’s competition is running with this ball for all they are worth. Looks to me that Roh is pushing to see if he can get the Commission to put heat his potential opponents and their supporters.)
We should tell Crazy Kim, “If you won’t talk w/ south korea, fine. But we won’t talk with you either. We’ll go over your head and speak only with w/ China or Russia.” (like that’ll ever happen or do any good but it’d make me believe our State Dept. had cajones for once.)
To me, this event has more to do with N. Korea pushing its long-term plan, now that U.S. appears to be politically weakened. It has been their long-term plan to ignore S. Korea as a legitimate entity, and deal directly with U.S.. S. Korea is a puppet of U.S., according to official N. Korean view. In the process, they will try to drive a wedge between S. Korea and U.S. Ultimately, N. Korea wants to sign a peace treaty with U.S. and have American troops withdraw from S. Korea.
Now that U.S. is talking about the possibility of peace treaty, they are more than happy to push their long-term agenda. They must be really satisfied at this point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.