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| Korea | |||
| North Korea nuclear talks begin | |||
| 2003-04-23 | |||
| Delegations from the United States, North Korea and China have started discussions on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Wednesday's talks, the first since the nuclear crisis in the North began last October, started with a working breakfast between the US and the Chinese before the discussions in Beijing got under way in earnest. Good thing they didn't invite the Nkors to the breakfast — they'd eaten the napkins and the flowers in the table setting. The three-day talks are being led by the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs, James Kelly, and the deputy director general of North Korea's American Affairs Bureau, Li Gun. Mr Kelly made no comment as he left his hotel for the discussions, at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, the walled garden compound where China receives visiting dignitaries.
Where did the NKors find the fuel for a gaggle of MiG-15's? The Beijing meeting represents a breakthrough in a dangerous six-month impasse over the North's nuclear programme. But analysts warned that negotiations were likely to be difficult, with the US and North Korea appearing to approach the talks from hard bargaining positions. North Korea has warned in recent days that it was ready to reprocess its spent nuclear fuel rods
You do your part, and we'll do ours. A BBC correspondent says that who takes part in the talks has been a sticking point in itself. North Korea describes China's role as simply that of host, while the US, in an attempt to internationalise the issue, insists Beijing is a full party. On Friday it appeared that the meeting itself could be in doubt, after North Korea's state news agency announced that Pyongyang was already reprocessing the spent fuel rods — the step necessary to produce weapons-grade plutonium. That statement was amended on Monday to read that the North was "successfully going forward to reprocess" the 8,000 rods.
I'm sure the NKors are happy to see him again. Nice move by GWB, sending the same man who blew the whistle. | |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 A question: Can they eat air waves? Talk is one thing, actually delivering something is something else. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-23 15:18:10 |
| #3 Truth be told, I'm still not entirely sure why the hell we're talking to them. For once, I agree with the North Korean press; these are not multilateral talks, these are precisely the direct US-DPRK talks Pyongyang has wanted all along. I just don't see a reason why the US is rushing into talks; we're not the ones eating tree bark (well, most of us, anyhow). North Korea needs these talk much more than we do, and letting them dictate who's in and who's out leaves me with a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. Of course, Seoul hasn't been particularly helpful in this regard. They need Alec Baldwin to go down to their Foreign Ministry and deliver his "Glengarry Glenross" pep talk. It takes "brass b*lls" to deal with Pyongyang, and for some reason beyond my limited comprehension, South Korea seems to lack'em. With an economy 25 times the size of the North's, you'd think they'd be a little more assertive. |
| Posted by: The Marmot 2003-04-23 14:03:06 |
| #2 US General Leon LaPorte, commander of the 37,000 US troops based in South Korea, said on Tuesday that the North "poses many threats to global stability". The US-South Korean alliance "provides the military force that deters North Korean aggression and it stands ready to defeat any external provocation", he added. *holds up card* 7.8. Points removed for being too short a program from an extremly promising candidate. Another four, five sentences, and "Army Based Policy" man would be sweating profusely. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-23 11:24:18 |
| #1 Man I hope this guy Kelly is about 6'8 |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-04-23 09:29:11 |