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| Korea |
| N Korea backs nuclear drive |
| 2003-09-03 |
| EFL & FU: The Supreme People’s Assembly agreed with a foreign ministry statement at the weekend that Pyongyang had no other option but to increase its nuclear deterrent force, according to the official KCNA news agency. The parliament also "considered as just" the government’s announcement that it had no further interest in talks on its nuclear programme, the agency said. Guess they didn’t get the memo from China. Also on Wednesday, the North Korean parliament re-elected the head of state, Kim Jong-il, to the key post of chief of defence. Just squeaked through with 100% of the vote. The 687-member legislative body said the outcome of the Beijing talks last week proved that Washington did not want to co-exist peacefully with Pyongyang. The government’s call for a nuclear build-up was therefore "a just self-defensive means to repel the US pre-emptive nuclear attacks," KCNA said. North Korea’s latest comments, while backing the foreign ministry’s statement on Saturday, seem to contradict another statement on Monday - also transmitted via KCNA - which said that Pyongyang still wanted to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue. "We’ll talk about the fact we’re gonna build nukes." The re-election of Kim Jong-il to North Korea’s top post, head of the national defence commission, triggered nationwide celebrations on Wednesday, according to the country’s media. "This is an expression of the absolute support and trust of all the servicemen and the people in him," KCNA said. "Upon hearing the happy news, the entire Korean people - including servicemen, old men and women and children - are coming out of their houses and working sites and dancing with bunches of flowers in their hands," the news agency reported. "Flowers, oh boy, we got lunch!" |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Aww, crap! Who told 'em about the Americans' preemptive nuclear strikes? Damn. Double damn. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-9-3 11:11:15 PM |
| #7 *holds up card* 8.0. Impressive finish, but doesn't hit the compulsory points. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-9-3 7:56:03 PM |
| #6 687 member legislative body, eh? That is more than Congress has (not counting the multitude of staffers, interns, and camp followers). Let's see, NORK population about 22.5 million, so they should have about 33,000 folks per representative while we have about 1 congressperson per 500,000 people. And yet the people are eating grass and starving in NORK. Hmmmmmmm |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-9-3 5:58:46 PM |
| #5 Now I'm curious about the life and lifestyle of the members of the Supreme People's Assembly. Are these important party members? Random army officers told to get into civies and look solemn for the cameras? Unimportant party functionaries? Is it a coup to be named to a meaningless rubber-stamp parliament? A career dead-end? Do they get an extra ration of long-pig for themselves and their families? Lots of questions today... |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2003-9-3 2:21:38 PM |
| #4 The only thing they've got left for our "recoup" is military wares and grass, and the grass is getting thin. Wait, they do seem to have lots of bunches of flowers! |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-9-3 11:53:56 AM |
| #3 Since NK broke the original treaty, is there anyway the US can recoup the Billions given using an International forum? |
| Posted by: Daniel King 2003-9-3 11:04:47 AM |
| #2 10 for audacity. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-9-3 11:01:11 AM |
| #1 sounds like the oil shortage is gonna spread to NK, huh? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-9-3 10:07:33 AM |