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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| North Korea seeks oil in return for halting reactor |
| 2007-02-05 |
| North Korea’s top envoy to six-party talks on its nuclear programme has told former US officials Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor, a Japanese daily said on Sunday. The demand would exceed the energy assistance North Korea received under a 1994 agreement with Washington, which collapsed when the current nuclear crisis began in 2002. The Asahi Shimbun said that North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan had set out Pyongyang’s position when he met former US State Department official Joel Witt and nuclear expert David Albright in the North Korean capital last week. Kim and other North Korean officials said the country would halt the operation of its reactor at Yongbyon if it obtained energy assistance equivalent to more than 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil a year, the Asahi said, quoting the two Americans. North Korean officials also demanded that Washington lift its financial sanctions against the country as well as removing North Korea from the list of “terrorism-sponsoring” nations, the daily said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me every time. |
| Posted by: Jimmeh Cahtah 2007-02-05 21:13 |
| #8 Sorry. posted too quickly, It's also a trick, they have absolutely no intention of stopping their nuke program but it's great propoganda if they can "Trick the great Satan" into giving them goodies thinking they will stop. Lying is part of their culture, it doesn't have the same stigma that it does here. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-05 19:02 |
| #7 #2: this is difficult to comprehend NKor already gets at least 10 times that much oil each year from the PRC. It looks to me as a propaganda measure, then they can broadcast "Look The Americans knuckled under to us, see we're powerful and this is proof the Americans are afraid of us" Bang the dish on the highchair and scream is all they have, so they use it a lot. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-05 18:40 |
| #6 LOL, our "nuclear expert" has a last name of Albright? Geez, these diplomacy talks may be more hopeless than I thought. I wonder if'n he's related to Maddy or not? |
| Posted by: BA 2007-02-05 15:07 |
| #5 We fell for this trick once before. You know the old saying - fool me once, shame on me. fool me twice, bombs on you. Unless they want to trade us the reactor for some oil... |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-02-05 13:38 |
| #4 I would tell em to shove thier nukes and have fun, lean over to China and let them know we are now considering the Norks under their umbrella hence we will see Norks as China. Lay out written plan that if Norks launch nuke or get cought selling a nuke or as much as one gram of nuclear material or technology we don't pass go it straight to NUCLEAR RESPONCE ACROSS THE DECK ON BOTH NORKS AND CHINA. China wont let US santion the Norks into submission then they are responsible, allowing our selves to be threatened into ransom is a recipe for both higher future ransom at random and others sticking there hands out. It would also do alot to make old Puty reconsider the political cover he is giving Iran who he knows is unstable. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2007-02-05 13:23 |
| #3 Let them drink oil. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2007-02-05 10:38 |
| #2 this is difficult to comprehend NKor already gets at least 10 times that much oil each year from the PRC. It may be that the 500k metric tons would be used to fatten some offshore accounts for some of the biggies (especially because it is coupled with the financial issue). |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-02-05 08:57 |
| #1 Give them oil poisioned with salt, all machinery grinds to a halt. Idiots. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-05 08:46 |