North Korea Nuclear Talks Break Down

AP ^ | Mar 22 12:31 PM US/Eastern | By BO-MI LIM

[ryan71]

Negotiations on halting North Korea's nuclear program broke down abruptly Thursday, with the country's chief envoy to the talks flying home after a dispute over money frozen in a Macau bank could not be resolved.

[ryan71]

Let the bombing begin!

[VaBthang4]

I'm shocked.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

North Korea Nuclear Talks Break Down

Standing head.

[mmichaels1970]

Didn't see THAT coming.

I guess John Bolton isn't so dumb after all.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

NYT Headline:

NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS BREAK DOWN
Women, Minorities Disproportionately Affected, Experts Say

[theDentist]

What a surprise (yawn).

[RedEyeJack]

Unlike the Clinton "feel-good" policy toward North Korean WMD development, the Bush administration will not look the other way when the NK's cheat.

[untrained skeptic]

Negotiations on halting North Korea's nuclear program broke down abruptly Thursday, with the country's chief envoy to the talks flying home after a dispute over money frozen in a Macau bank could not be resolved.

Well, let's see. North Korea is the worlds largest counterfeiter of US currency.

Shouldn't be much of a dispute.

Tell Macau to give us the money or be bomb you into oblivion, and quit doing business with counterfeiting crooks.

[Centurion2000]

what? the Norks negotiating in bad faith? I'm absolutely stuned that this could happen.

Beeber bump

[mmichaels1970]

the Bush administration will not look the other way when the NK's cheat.

Are you being sarcastic? It looks to me like the NK's have been playing us like a fiddle.

I stand by the President. But I keep waiting for the "or what". The U.S. will not tolerate Iran's nuclear development......or what? We will not allow North Korea to conduct nuclear weapons tests......or what? The strongest action the President seems to want to take is to refer them to the U.N. for sanctions that Russia and China will argue against and eventually stall.

[mmichaels1970]

Negotiations on halting North Korea's nuclear program broke down abruptly Thursday, with the country's chief envoy to the talks flying home after a dispute over money frozen in a Macau bank could not be resolved.

Well, let's see. North Korea is the worlds largest counterfeiter of US currency

Why is this an issue? Can't North Korea just "make more"?

[HardStarboard]

Time to withhold single-malts and porno flicks from being imported into DPNK....'lil Kimmy will go nuts and have his guys back at the talks in two days.

Or, better yet, flatten Pyongyang and let the Chinese clean up the mess.

[Little Ray]

Ooooh. Big surprise.

Why do we negotiate with someone we KNOW doesn't negotiate in good faith?

Cut off the food. Cut off the oil. Mine his ports. Let the Gargoyle and the slaves freeze and starve in the dark.

[HardStarboard]

>>> ...country's chief envoy to the talks flying home after a dispute over money frozen in a Macau bank could not be resolved.

<<< Perhaps we send over William Jefferson, Congressman from Louisiana, to talk to them about how to resolve frozen money.

[Quick or Dead]

This round of talks has been dogged by troubles since it started Monday, with Pyongyang refusing to take part for two days because of problems over the transfer of $25 million in North Korean funds frozen since 2005 at Banco Delta Asia in Macau under pressure from the United States. "This round of talks started with the BDA problem and ended with the BDA problem," Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae said. Banco Delta Asia was blacklisted by Washington on suspicion the funds were connected to money-laundering or counterfeiting. The North boycotted the international nuclear talks for more than a year over the issue.

North Korean funny money ping

[Joe Boucher]

Anyone believing they were for real to begin with is an idiot.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Asia pinglist

If you want on or off the list, go to the link for instructions. Otherwise, it won't be guaranteed that you will be put on or taken off (it still won't be 100% guaranteed, anyway, but will be much more highly probable).

[ChiefJayStrongbow]

We were blocking access to $25 million of their money and recently released that money to them as a pre-condition of the meeting. The $25 million was being blocked because of NKs involvement in counterfeiting our currency. Some thought it was a mistake to release the money ... it looks as if they were correct.