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Thread: North Korea suprises me

  1. #1
    The Usual Member Ice's Avatar
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    Default North Korea suprises me

    North Korea Offers to Meet U.S. Demands
    http://online.wsj.com/article_print/...633270182.html
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    U.N. Says Pyongyang Has Closed
    All Remaining Nuclear Facilities
    Associated Press
    July 18, 2007 1:19 p.m.

    BEIJING -- North Korea has offered to fully declare all nuclear-weapons programs and disable them by the end of the year, meeting U.S. hopes for quick moves following the shutdown of Pyongyang's sole operating reactor, South Korea's envoy said Wednesday.

    "North Korea expressed its intention to declare and disable [all its nuclear facilities] within the shortest possible period, even within five or six months, or by the end of the year," Chun Yung-woo said. He said that North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan also told South Korea that his nation is "willing to declare all its nuclear programs without omitting a single one."
    [Christopher Hill]

    The pledge for total disclosure is key because it implies the North will also include a mention of the uranium-enrichment program that it has never publicly acknowledged. The North's publicly known reactor at Yongbyon that produces plutonium had previously been shuttered under a 1994 disarmament deal with the U.S., but never disabled. "Uranium enrichment is an ongoing issue and, believe me, we are working on it," U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said.

    Mr. Hill added that the U.S. would demand the North declare how much plutonium it has produced and how much it currently possesses. North Korea conducted its first-ever test nuclear explosion in October, but the detonation was believed to be relatively weak in power and it is not known how much plutonium was used. Washington hopes that the declaration and disablement could be completed by the end of the year.

    Talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament -- which include China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas -- began Wednesday with an infusion of optimism. The atmosphere of the talks was "as bright as Beijing's skies and was more serious and businesslike than any other time," Mr. Chun said after a meeting of all six countries at a Chinese guesthouse as the capital was bathed in bright sunshine.

    Japan also said it was impressed by the North's positive attitude. "I had the impression that North Korea is prepared to implement the initial stage steps," Tokyo's envoy Kenichiro Sasae said, referring the list and disablement.

    IAEA Confirms North Korea Has Closed Nuclear Sites

    Earlier Wednesday, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirmed that North Korea has closed all remaining facilities at its main nuclear complex -- in addition to its sole working reactor. "We have verified all the five nuclear facilities have been shut down," Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    Some of the facilities have also been sealed by U.N. inspectors, he said. Mr. ElBaradei announced earlier in the week that his team of inspectors had verified the shutdown of North Korea's only working nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang.

    The announcement confirmed the shutdown of four additional facilities, including two long-dormant construction sites for larger reactors, and facilities for making reactor fuel and reprocessing it to harvest plutonium for bombs. Mr. ElBaradei said having the facilities listed and dismantled by year-end could only happen if there is progress in the six-nation talks and the North remains cooperative with inspectors, who may be required to travel across the secretive nation to other sites. "What is really important is full transparency," he said. "The more transparency we get, the quicker we will be able to verify that everything in [North Korea] has been declared to us."

    North Korea has begun receiving 50,000 tons of oil from South Korea as a reward for the reactor shutdown, and is to eventually receive the equivalent of a total one million tons for disabling its nuclear facilities. But Pyongyang has also demanded the U.S. and Japan end their "hostile" policies against the regime, such as other economic sanctions and being named on a U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states.


    I honestly didn't see this kind of progress happening this fast.



  2. #2
    Jillian & Allison's Daddy Senior Member Don Corleone's Avatar
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    Default Re: North Korea suprises me

    You do realize that their underground test was uhm, something less than the stellar success Kim was looking for, right? He put all his eggs in that basket, and then fired a dud. If he could have proven he had megaton type nuclear explosions at his disposal, he could afford to be a little more hostile. I think even he realizes he doesn't have that much time of expecting his people to eat grass while he sends his scientists back to the drawing board.
    "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."
    Don Vito Corleone: The Godfather, Part 1.

    "Then wait for them and swear to God in heaven that if they spew that bull to you or your family again you will cave there heads in with a sledgehammer"
    Strike for the South

  3. #3
    Praefectus Fabrum Senior Member Anime BlackJack Champion, Flash Poker Champion, Word Up Champion, Shape Game Champion, Snake Shooter Champion, Fishwater Challenge Champion, Rocket Racer MX Champion, Jukebox Hero Champion, My House Is Bigger Than Your House Champion, Funky Pong Champion, Cutie Quake Champion, Fling The Cow Champion, Tiger Punch Champion, Virus Champion, Solitaire Champion, Worm Race Champion, Rope Walker Champion, Penguin Pass Champion, Skate Park Champion, Watch Out Champion, Lawn Pac Champion, Weapons Of Mass Destruction Champion, Skate Boarder Champion, Lane Bowling Champion, Bugz Champion, Makai Grand Prix 2 Champion, White Van Man Champion, Parachute Panic Champion, BlackJack Champion, Stans Ski Jumping Champion, Smaugs Treasure Champion, Sofa Longjump Champion Seamus Fermanagh's Avatar
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    Default Re: North Korea suprises me

    Quote Originally Posted by Don Corleone
    You do realize that their underground test was uhm, something less than the stellar success Kim was looking for, right? He put all his eggs in that basket, and then fired a dud. If he could have proven he had megaton type nuclear explosions at his disposal, he could afford to be a little more hostile. I think even he realizes he doesn't have that much time of expecting his people to eat grass while he sends his scientists back to the drawing board.
    True enough. The current weregeld for being cooperative -- funny, when my child throws a tantrum I usually ignore it (98%) or swat her one (2%) but never reward the tantrum hmmmmm -- is sufficient for now. The program can always be re-constituted if needed later. Clearly the Fragrant Leader -- or whatever the real title is -- is only mad North by West.....
    "The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman

    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken

  4. #4
    Coffee farmer extraordinaire Member spmetla's Avatar
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    Default Re: North Korea suprises me

    Well as crazy as Kim is I'm just happy that he appears to be cooperating. I imagine this apparent cooperation with us has as much to do with China being pissed at Kim's beligerent stance in regards to it's neigbors as it does with North Koreas economic situation.

    "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
    -Abraham Lincoln


    Four stage strategy from Yes, Minister:
    Stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
    Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
    Stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
    Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.

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