http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2661995.stm The US envoy to Asia, James Kelly, has said that resolving the confrontation with North Korea will be a slow process. Mr Kelly made the remarks on a visit to Beijing after Pyongyang described Washington's offer to revive aid in exchange for the Communist state dropping its nuclear programme as "deceptive drama". The US talk about dialogue is nothing but a deceptive drama to mislead the world public opinion N Korean Foreign Ministry statement In a statement carried by North Korea's official news agency, the Foreign Ministry said the confrontation would only end when the US signed a non-aggression pact. The announcement appeared to dash fresh hopes of a conclusion to the crisis which were raised on Tuesday after President George W Bush spoke of a "bold initiative" of benefits for North Korea. Mr Bush's overture signalled that the US might be interested in reopening discussions with North Korea for the first time since the crisis erupted three months ago. Observers have suggested that North Korea has simply been hoping all along to force the US into providing fresh aid. This stuff is scary. Bush did a 180 in agreeing to talk about aid to Korea, and they shot it down. They are apparently very serious about this nuke thing. N. Korea has kicked the UN inspectors out, openly vowed to continue it's nuclear program, and turned down the idea of accepting aid in exchange for abandoning the program, and insulting Bush's offer at the same time. In the past they were always willing to talk about halting their program for food and oil. This marks a drastic change. N. Korea has been guilty recently of kidnapping both Japanese and S. Korean citizens, assassinating S. Korean politicians, having various naval skirmishes with S. Korea. N. Korea is also the most closed totalitarian society on the globe. Iraq has certainly been deceptive with their chemical weapons etc., but I think Bush picked the wrong country to prepare for war with. At least Iraq has let the inspectors back in, and there is a chance to curtail them, Iraq is thumbing it's nose at anyone who wants to stop their nuke program. I believe they are taking advantage of Bush's war plans on Iraq to do this while he's otherwise occupied. The whole thing is a huge scary mess.
This stuff is scary. Bush did a 180 in agreeing to talk about aid to Korea, and they shot it down. They are apparently very serious about this nuke thing. I disagree. They are just milking this for all its worth. In a week or so, we've gone from "we're not talking" to "we'll talk, but won't give you anything" to "we'll talk, and here are some benefits". North Korea is pushing the envelope b/c they know the U.S. *needs* to solve this thing quickly.
Yup. Same old, same old from N Korea. Nothing new. China will let them play until they get serious, then will reign them in.
I hope N. Korea will decide to talk sense, but they have never gone this far in the past. It may have been better in the past had they not agreed to those terms. Clinton had a plan ready to go to bomb their reactor back in '92 when they agreed to abandon their nuke program. If they hadn't agreed then, the reactor wouldn't be in existence now. I really do hope you guys are right that eventually N. Korea will fall back to the old agreements or, at least, similar ones. But this just felt different to me. They not only rejected the agreement but they did so by insulting the agreement itself, and seem to be on a path to going all the way. I don't know what stage their reactor is at, but if it's too far a long, bombing it may cause a big nuclear fallout, something needs to be done quickly if it's not too late already. N. Korea just seems to be thumbing their nose at everyone right now.
