|
In truth, I would agree. However, IF the situation with N. Korea gets any worse, the door to that possibility would swing wide open. Recently, we're at another standoff with Pyongyang, trying to seize the equipment needed for them to build nuclear reactors:
| quote: | November 6, 2003
N. Korea Will Block U.S. From Nuke Sites
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:23 a.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Thursday angrily reacted to a U.S.-led move to suspend construction of two nuclear power plants in the impoverished country, saying it will seize all equipment and technical data for the $4.6 billion project.
Pyongyang, however, did not revoke its earlier promise to return to six-nation talks aimed at resolving a standoff over its nuclear weapons program -- a scenario some U.S. allies had feared when they agreed to halt work on the North Korean reactor project.
The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, a U.S.-led consortium based in New York, has been building two light-water reactors in Kumho, a remote village on North Korea's northeast coast, as part of a 1994 ``agreed framework'' deal between Washington and Pyongyang.
Halting the project looked inevitable by Thursday, however, as all four members of KEDO's executive board said they favored suspending it for at least one year.
Washington led the initiative, suggesting that KEDO kill the project because North Korea has flouted the 1994 accord by running a secret nuclear weapons program.
The United States and KEDO must fully compensate North Korea ``under relevant articles of the light-water reactor agreement,'' an unidentified spokesman of North Korea's Foreign Ministry told KCNA, Pyongyang's official news agency.
``The DPRK will hold them accountable for this to the last. It will never allow them to take out all the equipment, facilities, materials and technical documents now in Kumho area for the light-water reactor construction till this issue is settled,'' he said.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
South Korea accused Pyongyang of violating ``the agreements and protocols between North Korea and KEDO that call for protecting personnel and equipment.''
``We are seriously concerned and strongly urge the North to withdraw its decision,'' South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement.
KEDO's executive committee met earlier this week and discussed the fate of the reactor project. They said they would make a final announcement before Nov. 21.
The reactors are for power-generation, and it's extremely difficult to use them for weapons purposes.
Hundreds of workers, mostly from South Korea, have been working in Kumho to build the reactors. They have completed one-third of the project, but no core parts for the reactors have been delivered amid the nuclear dispute.
Washington says it sees ``no future'' for the project. KEDO's three other members -- South Korea, Japan and the European Union -- favor suspending the project for one year, instead of nixing it completely. They want to use the prospect of reviving the project to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.
Under a 1994 deal, North Korea promised to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons development. But the deal went sour in October 2002 when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted running a secret weapons program.
Washington and its allies later cut off 147 million gallons of annual free oil shipments -- also part of the 1994 deal. Pyongyang retaliated by expelling U.N. nuclear monitors. Last month, it said it was building more atomic bombs besides one or two bombs it already is believed to posses.
Pyongyang says that United States has also reneged on the 1994 deal. It cites Washington's failure to keep its promise to build one of the two light-water reactors by 2003, and its refusal to make compensations for ``tremendous'' economic losses caused by the delays.
On Thursday, the North Korean spokesman said KEDO's move to suspend the reactor project was not unexpected.
``What matters is why Washington is so getting on the nerves of the DPRK at a time when the resumption of the six-party talks is high on the agenda,'' he said.
North Korea now has ``a reason strong enough to take the most appropriate measure when necessary,'' the spokesman said without elaborating.
Representatives of the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia met in August in Beijing to discuss ending the nuclear crisis. But the meeting ended without agreement on a next round. Last week, North Korea agreed ``in principle'' to return to the multinational talks.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing's point man on North Korea, traveled to Washington on Thursday to prepare for a new round of six-nation talks. China hopes to arrange and host the talks, perhaps within weeks.
On Thursday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun during a visit to Seoul that his country did not give nuclear secrets to North Korea in return for missile technology.
The New York Times reported last fall that Pakistan had been supplying technology to North Korea, including gas centrifuges and other crucial machinery for making weapons-grade uranium for nuclear weapons development. In return, the Pakistanis reportedly received missile technology from North Korea.
``I have issued a public denial of any link whatsoever between Pakistan and North Korea in conventional or unconventional fields,'' Musharraf said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/int...as-Nuclear.html |
If this N. Korea thing gets any worse, I wouldn't take any possibility away from this Administration.
___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
|
