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China-Japan-Koreas
'North Korea could close atom plants permanently'
2007-03-06
North Korea is willing irreversibly to shut down its nuclear plants as part of a six-nation deal, a senior South Korean official said on Monday.

The communist’s state chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan has reaffirmed that disabling the plants would be an “irreversible process,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. Kim was speaking during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-Woo in New York on Saturday, said the official, quoted by Yonhap news agency. The South’s lead negotiator Chun said after meeting Kim on Saturday that the North appears strongly committed to the first steps of the agreement. Under those steps the North must shut down and seal its Yongbyon nuclear complex and admit international inspectors by mid-April. Disabling would be the next phase.

Suspicions arose after Pyongyang’s official media said the six-party agreement requires it to “temporarily suspend” its facilities. “Kim said his country only used the expression ‘temporary suspension’ because the facilities can be restarted at any time until they are completely disabled,” the Seoul official said.
Posted by:Fred

#15  It's just a mafia shakedown.

Kimmie threatens world with nukes

Kimmie gets paid to put them away.

Visit from the Chinese never goes astray, after all Kimmie is their little B*tch and he can't act without their support

Posted by: anon1   2007-03-06 21:37  

#14  Yes, bring back the Juche!....Or, not, lol!
Posted by: BA   2007-03-06 21:11  

#13  Remember those good old days when we used to grade the rants like ice skating competition judges?

Oh, Paul, you're making me feel all weepy suddenly!
Posted by: Secret Master   2007-03-06 20:26  

#12  Oh, they'll close down those nuke plants sure enough, because they already have other operating underground facilities that no one knows anything about!

Sure, go ahead and close down the above ground plants. No one will ever know the difference...


Posted by: FOTSGreg   2007-03-06 18:54  

#11  'North Korea could close atom plants permanently'

... or just until the check clears.
Posted by: jds   2007-03-06 13:06  

#10  I'm thinkin that this is related to the nuke test that went fizzz. The starch is out of Kimmy since then. Perhaps instead of building a nuclear bomb, they contaminated their nuclear facilities so bad, they're back to square one.
Posted by: wxjames   2007-03-06 11:18  

#9  There is a possibility that the PRC has given Kimmy a deal where kimmy gets a resort in China complete with sex slaves if he agrees to close up the nukes.
Posted by: mhw   2007-03-06 11:16  

#8  And it has been two years or so since there has been a real GOOD KCNA rant. Remember those good old days when we used to grade the rants like ice skating competition judges? Kimmie has gone downhill. Yes, he could pulverize Seoul, but after that, what? He would face total annihilation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2007-03-06 11:00  

#7  Did the Chinese ever get their Trains back?
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2007-03-06 10:09  

#6  I gotta figure the South Koreans are blowing smoke in behalf of their northern counterparts. Again.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-03-06 06:15  

#5  Why is Kimmie doing this?

In a word, Iraq.
Posted by: phil_b   2007-03-06 04:25  

#4  Seems like lots of good ideas. The kinds of things that one has to present leaders who don't have a whole lot of common sense.

As for the other countries in the area, I wonder how far ahead of them they would let the Chinese get before they reacted. I don't think blowing up that poor innocent satellite and consequently anything in its orbit is viewed as much of a threat, and they would have to perceive that the US would have to have reason to abandon or shortchange them before they started taking matters into their own hands it seems to me.
Posted by: gorb   2007-03-06 03:27  

#3  Actually, Kimmie may be having a Ghaddafi moment : the sudden clarity of mind that being blown up in your bed is a bad way to go; while living to a ripe old age and staying President-for-Life has its advantages. The crackdown on bank accounts, the growing Japanese military buildup in response to the missile and bomb tests, the seizure of several heroin transports, all put pressure on Kimmie to make nice. Also, the Chinese have an incentive to have Korea calmed down THIS year : the Olympics are in Beijing in 2008, and that would be a terribly inconvenient time for Kimmie to go hog wild on the world.
Plus, with the Taiwanese leadership talking more independently, the Chinese need a show to prove they can make their dog heel when commanded. The KMT in Taiwan is the PRC's last major hope for a reunification that is non-violent, and the KMT is not as popular as it once was. Also, the NorKors tempter tantrums have stirred up a lot of prior fears in the region, and it is starting to heat up the weapons purchases of countries like Japan and Singapore. These purchases undercut the military modernization that the PRC is doing, and so are viewed as problems. If Kimmie is a nice, leashed lapdog instead of a raging pit bull, the Asian theatre's arms buildup may calm down again, and let the PRC proceed with its power projection improvements; if not, Japan can easily outbuy and outbuild the PRC on all classes of modern weapondry, including ABM defenses. That serves to undercut the threat to Taiwan, and the PRC's negotiating space.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-03-06 02:39  

#2  Maybe the NorKs did a cost/benefit analysis and decided it was cheaper to close the plants themselves than have the USAF or the Navy do it.
Posted by: SteveS   2007-03-06 02:17  

#1  What's up here? Is Kimmie dying or something? Are sanctions having an effect? Did Chinese agents come visit him in the middle of the night? Some combination of the above? I understand he is making plans for his replacement. Perhaps he realizes he will be judged by history and hopes that people will only remember his "dying wishes" or something like that.

Sounds like someone is lying if they are selling the phrase "temprarily suspend" differently at home than abroad.

The only kind of seal I would believe would be delivered in the form of about 100000 trucks full of [probably South Korean] concrete mix and the right to visit or dig at any physical location at any time in a truly "unfettered" fashion.
Posted by: gorb   2007-03-06 01:35  

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