I agree to a large extent with Treeman, on trust and the N. Koreans. They break rules and expelled the inspectors from past agreements. Here is the course of action I would recommend. First thing we start now gathering support. We not only give our ideas to the UN, we actually listen to other country's ideas as well. Ideally the plan would include negotiations with immediate discontinuation of any and all aid should the N. Koreans break the agreement. The agreement should once again include monitoring, dismantling anything they have now etc. The society is the most closed on the globe, and we need monitors inside. In order to get the kind of world wide support needed, Bush may need to hire a whole new diplomatic corps, get rid of Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Cheney, but putting those failures out of job and ending up with a peaceful settlement is worthwhile. Building the support needed to isolate N. Korea should they violate their side of the bargain will be essential. That way they get the message that this is their last chance from more than just the U.S.
This whole situation is getting really weird --- who is really trustworthy? I think the US has every right to monitor N.K. as does the rest of the world. "Japan is nothing but an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and the US," the North Korean statement said. "It has lost its qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner." The Japanese public was outraged when North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, admitted in September 2002 that his nation's agents had systematically kidnapped Japanese citizens. North Korea has so far allowed the return of five of the hostages. North Korea today denounced the US military for flying its newest unmanned spy planes near its border, calling the deployment a preparation to invade. Last month, the US began flying the Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor North Korean military activities along the border with the South. N Korea wants Japan out of talks Associated Press Tuesday October 7, 2003 North Korea announced today that it would not allow Japan to participate in any future talks aimed at resolving the standoff over its alleged nuclear programmes. The statement, which accuses Tokyo of being an untrustworthy partner in dialogue, complicates international efforts to restart six-nation nuclear talks. Washington believes North Korea's nuclear programmes threaten regional security, and considers Japan's participation crucial. In August, the United States, China, Russia, the two Koreas and Japan held talks in Beijing aimed at addressing the North's nuclear ambitions. Tokyo used the talks to raise another issue it considers pivotal - the abduction of its citizens decades ago by North Korean agents. Today, North Korea's foreign ministry said it "would not allow Japan to participate in any form of negotiations for the settlement of the nuclear issue in the future". "Japan is nothing but an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and the US," the North Korean statement said. "It has lost its qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner." North Korea accused Japan of abusing the nuclear talks to raise the "issue of abduction," which the it says has already been settled. It was unclear whether the statement, carried by the North's official news agency KCNA, meant North Korea might agree to a future meeting if Japan were excluded. Since the August meeting ended without plans for a next round, Pyongyang has said it is no longer interested in further talks. The kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korea as part of its spy training during the 1970s and 1980s has been a major cause of contention between the Asian neighbours. The issue has stalled efforts to set up diplomatic relations and halted Japan's food aid to impoverished North Korea. The Japanese public was outraged when North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, admitted in September 2002 that his nation's agents had systematically kidnapped Japanese citizens. North Korea has so far allowed the return of five of the hostages. Meanwhile, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Japan, China and South Korea agreed to coordinate efforts to get North Korea to end its nuclear ambitions and reiterated that the dispute should be resolved peacefully. The agreement - between the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, and the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao - came on the sidelines of the annual summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A South Korean government official, who asked not to be named, said the three leaders agreed to cooperate in setting up a second round of six-party talks, but no date has been set. North Korea today denounced the US military for flying its newest unmanned spy planes near its border, calling the deployment a preparation to invade. Last month, the US began flying the Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor North Korean military activities along the border with the South. The US acknowledges monitoring North Korean military activity but says it is done without entering North Korean air space.
Almost everyone who has been asked for troops has balked. India isn't doing anything unusual. This is just another price we pay for the incompetent diplomatic run-up to the war on Iraq, in my opinion. India (and Pakistan) have the additional excuse of potential open warfare on their borders. (with each other... with the complication of Afghanistan for Pakistan and the always present tension India has with China, although it has been somewhat reduced) The reason I mentioned the Indian Navy is that they could be useful during a possible blockade of North Korea.
If the sh*t were to break out, I wouldn't count on anyone other than the usual suspects (the US, UK, Australia, and maybe Canada) to show up for the party. Don't expect anything more than moral support from France. Hey, don't be surprised if they condemned our 'preemptive unilateral aggression' in the UNSC... Japan, S. Korea would definitely be involved, though. It would go poorly for the North Koreans. Well, it would go poorly for everyone if they started popping off nukes and tossing chem/bio warheads around... It would be an ugly war that the rest of the world would try its best to ignore.
I wonder what we will do if they test one of their bombs? "When an appropriate time comes, the DPRK will take a measure to open its nuclear deterrent to the public as a physical force and then there will be no need to have any more argument," the ministry spokesman said, noting some people doubted the North had nuclear capability. N.Korea Says Ready to Display Nuclear Deterrent SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would display a nuclear deterrent at "an appropriate time" to end debate over its nuclear status if the United States delayed a solution to an impasse over Pyongyang's atomic ambitions. In comments published in English by the official KCNA news agency, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman also criticized calls for a fresh round of six-way nuclear talks, saying such discussions were meaningless unless Washington dropped its hostility toward Pyongyang. "When an appropriate time comes, the DPRK will take a measure to open its nuclear deterrent to the public as a physical force and then there will be no need to have any more argument," the ministry spokesman said, noting some people doubted the North had nuclear capability. The statement appeared to address comments last week by Secretary of State Colin Powell that Washington had drafted new ideas on security assurances to offer to reclusive North Korea. Powell said the United States envisaged a public written document, preferably signed by some of North Korea's neighbors, but not the formal non-aggression treaty which Pyongyang demands. North Korea said it was not sure whether the U.S. idea was "a jugglery intended to shirk its responsibility for settling this issue between the DPRK and the U.S. or an artifice to buy time to win the presidential election in 2004." If the United States put off dealing with the issue, "during that time the DPRK will have enough time to perfect and strengthen necessary means which has already been opened to the public," the spokesman said. China, Russia, the two Koreas, Japan and the United States held an inconclusive first round of talks in Beijing in late August. All sides pledged to avoid steps that would aggravate the year-old dispute. But early this month, Pyongyang said it had redirected plutonium extracted from thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods to help enhance its deterrent force. North Korea has said for the past year it faces an imminent threat of armed attack from the United States. Pyongyang wants Washington to sign and ratify a non-aggression treaty before it will dismantle its banned nuclear arms programs. North Korea has in the past increased the intensity of its rhetoric before returning to talks.
