Posted on 07/24/2008 5:19:05 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N.Korea ‘to Stay on Terror List Until Verification Is Agreed’
The U.S. has told North Korea that it will not strike it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism until it agrees on a verification protocol for its nuclear programs and stockpiles, it emerged on Thursday.
A reliable source in Washington said Wednesday the U.S. reaffirmed its position that it will not remove North Korea from the terrorism list until it agrees on a detailed verification procedure. The U.S. was expected to strike the North off the list on Aug. 11 but will hold off however long it takes for Pyongyang to agree on the protocol, the source added.
"The U.S. has made this point clear to North Korea with a view to pressuring it into agreeing on the verification protocol," the source said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday urged North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun to agree to a verification protocol in a meeting of foreign ministers from countries in the six-party talks in Singapore.
When he notified Congress of his intention to strike the North from the terrorism list on June 26, U.S. President George W. Bush stressed the need to establish such a protocol.
Many speculated that this meant the North would be removed from the terrorism list on Aug. 11, since the president is required to notify Congress of his intention to remove a specific country from the list 45 days in advance.
But others speculate that this will not happen unless North Korea agrees to a verification protocol in the next 15 days, either in bilateral talks with the U.S. or at the six-party talks.
Meanwhile, the U.S. draft document for verifying North Korea's nuclear declaration contains no timeline, the Washington Times reported Wednesday. This means the process “could continue into the next administration,” the daily said.
It quoted U.S. chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill as saying verification “will involve things like sampling. But in order to sample, you need to complete some actions, for example, of disablement." It would therefore have been hasty to include a time frame, he added.
In an editorial, the daily pointed out that North Korea agreed to "a complete declaration of all nuclear programs and disablement of all existing nuclear facilities." “It has failed to meet this commitment,” the paper comments. “At a minimum, the United States should not remove North Korea from the terrorism list until it does so and it agrees to permit short-notice inspections of its nuclear facilities at any time."
N.Korea 'Demands Respect as a Nuclear State'
North Korea reportedly asked to be recognized as a nuclear state at a meeting of foreign ministers from countries in six-party talks on Wednesday. North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun urged the U.S. to stop its hostile policy toward the North, saying verification of the nuclear facilities and stockpiles it has declared is not a duty but cooperation.
Pak made the remarks in a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore.
A diplomatic source said since the recent round of the six-party talks, North Korea has called for verifying South Korea's nuclear program too, so that the North can cooperate in the verification protocol. “It is also demanding to be given the status of a nuclear state,” the source added.
In the nuclear declaration it submitted to the talks in June, the North speaks of itself “as a nuclear state,” the diplomat said.
Pak was meeting with his counterparts from South Korea, Yu Myung-hwan, the U.S., Condoleezza Rice, China, Yang Jiechi, Japan, Masahiko Komura, and Russia, Sergei Lavrov. It was the first meeting of foreign ministers since the six-party talks began in August 2003.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200807/200807240011.html
Ping!
Good.
Any other agreement with such a regime is bound for failure. It is based on the foolish, State-Department-believed premise, that their promises mean anything. Only a hopelessly clueless person in high-up, Ivy League-status, rarified-air US foreign policy circles devoid of any street smarts or real world experience, would be fooled into thinking otherwise.
That accounts for 95%+ of State Dept. Obama is their saint, no doubt.:-)
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