Posted on 02/13/2007 3:05:04 AM PST by MadIvan
North Korea has promised to wind down its nuclear programme in return for a package of international aid and the normalisation of relations with America.
The secretive Stalinist state agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days, and eventually disable it irreversibly, in a momentous deal signed at the end of a six-country conference in Beijing. It will also allow international inspections of the site.
In return the US will begin the process of removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and move towards ending sanctions imposed after the country's underground nuclear test in October.
"This progress marks another firm and important step towards the denuclearisation of the peninsula," said Wu Dawei, the head of the Chinese delegation to the conference.
The US chief negotiator was more cautious. "This is only one phase of denuclearisation. We're not done," Christopher Hill said.
If Pyongyang goes through with its promises it will be the first time it has scaled back its atomic development after more than three years of negotiations marked by delays and deadlock.
Many analysts had said that North Korea was unlikely to give up the bomb after working on it for so long, pointing to the general acceptance of India and Pakistan as other recent additions to the nuclear "club".
The deal was struck at an international conference in Beijing involving China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas.
Under the deal, the North will receive an initial 50,000 tons worth of heavy fuel oil - or aid to its equivalent value - in return for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor.
The North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid for irreversibly disabling the reactor. The total amount of heavy fuel oil offered to North Korea is worth around $330 million at today's prices.
North Korea and United States have also agreed to embark on talks aimed at resolving disputes and restarting diplomatic relations.
North Korea's more conciliatory approach follows a U-turn by America, which held secret bilaterial meetings with the North prior to the conference, having previously pledged not to do so.
The Korean peninsula has remained in a state of war for more than a half-century since the Korean War ended in a 1953 ceasefire.
Last month the Daily Telegraph revealed that North Korea was helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.
Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test with Teheran's nuclear scientists, according to a senior European defence official.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
L
I think I'll hold off for a bit on singing my 4-part-harmony chorus of "Ding-dong, the witch is dead.."
Highway robbery.
All they appear to have done is PURCHASED a temporary abatement of the nuclear program. I would find it hard to believe that Korea hasn't stored away whatever they need for the future nuclear program (or ongoing) and future extortion.
Where is this oil coming from?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. When monkeys fly out of their butts!
Regards, Ivan
Never, EVER trust a Commie and/or Dictator!
Well N.Korea has ALWAYS kept their word in the past haven't they? : )
This is the end of the current bunch in Korea. They just haven't faced it.
Its not done, and the folks monitoring this have back loaded it so they don't get much of value until big things happen.
Could be alot worse.
May I join you. I wouldn't trust north korea anytime, anywhere, or in any way. Delay, delay, the same tactic in Iran, and then we will have at least two crazies with the "bomb". You just can't beat the effectiveness of the delay tactic. No penalty, no loss of down, no lost yardage just political hay. Sorry for the american football reference. Goal, offsides, so what, the goal counts. There, a soccer reference.
I see pigs flying.........
I've got a very nice bridge in Brooklyn I'm willing to sell cheap. Any takers?
Regards, Ivan
The North Korean atomic test was an apparent disaster: a fizzle. It probably left much of the test area somewhat contaminated. The Treasury Counterfeiting program has remained in place, and Kim sees us squeezing his business partners in Tehran.
He also sees what the Chicoms see: Japanese rearmament. The Chinese have become alarmed at what the Japanese were doing with their navy and at the increasingly nationalist and militant attitude in Japan. So I think the Chinese decided to move the ball down the field and voted for stability on their northeastern frontier.
So Li'l Kim went to the table and decided to take Rice's offer. It turns out that we were willing to be generous. So what? North Korea is South Korea's problem, not ours. It is very little skin off our nose and, what's more, a lot of Democrats are going to end up looking humiliated when this is done. They swore up and down that Rice's approach was wrong. Sucks to be them.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
If all North Korea wanted was this "aid package", then they could have spent the fortune used on the nuke program to fund the same needs - and never built the program or pissed off the world.
Thus the reason I don't believe Kim Dong Dork any more now than before.
Let's see - what is the history of NK and their sabre rattling and concessions made? Each time, we give them aid in exchange for peaceful promises - and they NEVER live up to their agreements.
Yet here we go again... We keep feeding his "Million-man army" for him, and he will have his other funds available to continue his weapons programs... real smart.
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