 AP Photo |
Posted on 10/19/2002 12:23:29 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A U.S. envoy on Saturday urged North Korea (news - web sites) to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, warning there will be no easy way out for the recalcitrant communist regime.
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Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, speaking after meetings with Chinese and South Korean officials, said Washington will lead a global campaign to bring "maximum international pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons ambition."
South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun was visiting Pyongyang, where he said he would urge North Korea to realize the international furor over its clandestine nuclear program.
"It is of paramount importance (for the North) to wisely resolve the concern recently raised," Jeong said in a speech during a dinner hosted by North Korean Prime Minister Hong Song Nam, according to pool reports from Pyongyang. Official talks begin Sunday.
On Wednesday, Washington said North Korea admitted having a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement the two countries signed in Geneva. The admission came at Oct. 3-5 talks in Pyongyang, when Kelly confronted his North Korean counterparts with evidence of a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
Both Koreas had agreed earlier to use the latest round of Cabinet-level talks to promote reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula. Now Jeong says his most urgent task will be to gauge whether the North wants dialogue or confrontation.
Kelly said the Bush administration will not follow the diplomatic course that produced the 1994 agreement. Under that accord, North Korea pledged to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for construction of two light-water reactors. As part of the deal, the United States also provides North Korea with 500,000 tons of heating oil annually.
Critics have often said the 1994 deal coddled the Stalinist regime — a perception strengthened by the revelation that North Korea has been flouting that accord for years.
"This is not a replay of 1993 and 1994," Kelly said at a news conference after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong.
Kelly flew to South Korea (news - web sites) early Saturday from Beijing, where he and U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton met Chinese officials, who Kelly said "made it very clear that they strongly oppose any nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula."
On Sunday, Kelly planned to travel to Japan to continue consultations with regional powers.
Kelly said that the isolated, impoverished North's best way to resume dialogue with Washington to improve ties and win badly needed aid was first to give up its newly revealed nuclear program.
He said the new revelation made it impossible for Washington to engage the North with dialogue.
Kelly said no deadline or timetable had been set in the campaign to pressure North Korea to abandon its covert nuclear program, as the United States is focused now on consultations with allies.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Kelly will discuss temporarily stopping construction of light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea, Japan's largest daily, the Yomiuri, reported Saturday, citing unidentified government sources.
When asked whether he discussed scrapping the 1994 deal with South Korean officials, Kelly said: "No decisions have been made on any next steps."
South Korea says dialogue is the best way to deal with concerns about North Korea. News of North Korea's nuclear program threw the South's so-called "sunshine" policy of engagement into disarray.
South Korea and Japan, the chief U.S. allies in Northeast Asia, are most vulnerable to North Korea's arsenal of missiles, chemical and biological weapons and now, possibly, nuclear bombs.
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I love that statement!
Since 1995, the United States has provided 67 percent of all food donations through WFP [United Nations World Food Program] for North Korea or 1.2 million metric tons of food worth over $425 million.
Does this mean we get our money back?
Kosovo, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Colombia, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Phillipines... are we going to have enough personnel, munitions, and supplies and still "provide for the common defense"?
Are we going to feel some pain in our everyday life from the requirement for resources? YES!
Can we do it? YES!
That is scary. And you've hit the nail on the head. Maybe now we know why he's been so busy lately sucking up overseas.
We're not spread as thin as the media makes it sound. If I remember right, just a couple of weeks ago Clinton was reminding the Germans (or somebody) that they had more troops in Afghanistan than we did. Our 'regular' soldiers are being concentrated you know where, while we only have small groups of 'special' troops in those other places. The media just wants us to think we're spread too thin.
Does this guy Kelly really believe what he says? What makes him think that North Korea will readily give up the nukes it spent a great deal of money and resources developing so that it can have "improved ties" with America? Sure North Korea will take our food and financial aid and laugh at stupid Americans like Mr. Kelly all the way to the bank.
Just remember who left all these time bombs....for Bush to clean up....give him time.
We had better send them a secret message by courier, to wit:
"Give up all you nukes .... stop all planned technology transfers ... or learn to glow in the dark!
KAAAAABOOM !
Kosovo, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Colombia, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Phillipines... are we going to have enough personnel, munitions, and supplies and still "provide for the common defense"?
My preference is that we do the heavy lifting, then turn these third world sh!t-holes over to NATO and / or the UN.
BTW, the Brits announced they are pulling troops out of Kosovo. That's a good thing!
Yep, we [the U.S. taxpayer] have been paying a fanatical communist dictator to build nukes. When will the madness end?
The strategy needs to be different in differing regions. In the case of N.K., there are neighboring countries who have an interest in this new development and are not supportive of the regime. The same cannot be said about Iraq (with perhaps the exception of the Iranian viper next door who would like to swallow Iran). This and many other reasons call for a different strategy.
Now, if you came to bash the Prez because you think he's just a (fill in the blank) Hitler, dumb frat boy, drunk, smirking chimp, a bloodthirsty cowboy, or some other tired old term, we probably won't get much further.
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