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N.Korea Says Reprocessing 8,000 Nuclear Fuel Rods
Reuters ^

Posted on 04/18/2003 5:19:41 AM PDT by Brian S

Fri April 18, 2003 08:09 AM ET SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea said on Friday it was "successfully reprocessing" more than 8,000 spent fuel rods under its nuclear program that will be the focus of talks with the United States and China next week. "The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only," the North's KCNA news agency said on Friday, quoting a foreign ministry spokesman.

"As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase, as we sent interim information to the U.S. and other countries concerned early in March after resuming our nuclear activities from December last year."

The statement also acknowledged for the first time expected three-way talks with the United States and China in Beijing next week to discuss the six-month-old nuclear impasse.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
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1 posted on 04/18/2003 5:19:42 AM PDT by Brian S
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To: Brian S
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only,"

This will most likely be the 'theme of the decade' as the new weapons race commences.

2 posted on 04/18/2003 5:22:28 AM PDT by Brian S (YOU'RE IT!)
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To: Brian S
Dumb N Koreans learn the wrong lesson from Iraq.

It was Iraq's development of WMD, and their refusal to give them up, that caused the war on Iraq.

3 posted on 04/18/2003 5:26:32 AM PDT by sd-joe
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To: Brian S
"Ya see ... what we got here is a failure to communicate."


4 posted on 04/18/2003 5:29:43 AM PDT by The G Man (Hey CNN ... "NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS!!!")
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To: Brian S
-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--
5 posted on 04/18/2003 5:37:26 AM PDT by backhoe (http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b5d4b0009c7.htm -The Poor-Boy Nuke--)
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To: Brian S
What it quarantees them is that if they become threatening enough with nukes, their whole nation will have to be dealt with in a more extreme manner than Iraq.
6 posted on 04/18/2003 5:39:43 AM PDT by FreeAtlanta
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To: Brian S
Interesting. The opposite of Saddam: tell 'em every move you make.
7 posted on 04/18/2003 5:58:34 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: Brian S
See, we should have listened to the Hollywood crowd. They TOLD us war would make things worse!
8 posted on 04/18/2003 5:59:15 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: Brian S
Pre-tripartite talks (typical DPRK) negotiation/posturing.

Staking out the hard ground. Will move to the center with concessions once we deliver our subtle threats through the backchannels.

9 posted on 04/18/2003 6:06:01 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Kim Jong Il had ANOTHER bad underwear day . He found "decapitate" in his English-Korean dictionary.)
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To: sd-joe
They may be dumb but they're also in thrall to Kim, who is a certifiable mad man.
10 posted on 04/18/2003 6:13:43 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: The Red Zone
He sits on a house of cards, quite afraid that the DPRK military will assassinate him and then themselves cut a deal with the West to liberalize the country and open it up. Western information about the victory in Iraq as well as other external news is seeping into the country, heard by the people, who themselves are fed up with lives of poverty and hunger. The statues coming down in Baghdad, many of them similiar to the statues of elder and younger Kim, is what has really freaked them out and sent a message.

Hence, Kim Jong il literally went deep underground for 50 days (with only the most trusted advisors) in the northern part of the country near China, near Mt. Baektu, before, during and after all the bombing and attack on Iraq. They also observed clear and dramatic real-time US pinpoint and bunker busting capabilities, (via CNN, Chinese press and other satellite sources 24/7) and came away very afraid for their lives. 21 days and Baghdad falls with minimum US casulties and essentially the citizen's infrastructure in place has devasted their minds in North Korea. They can only yap more like pissed off dogs, but they will refrain from snapping at heels for the time being.

11 posted on 04/18/2003 6:33:31 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Kim Jong Il had ANOTHER bad underwear day . He found "decapitate" in his English-Korean dictionary.)
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To: Illbay
"The opposite of Saddam: tell 'em every move you make."

"Every move you make,
every claim you stake,
I'll be watching you."


12 posted on 04/18/2003 6:38:32 AM PDT by The G Man (Hey CNN ... "NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS!!!")
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To: The G Man
ma boy kin eat fifty eggs!
13 posted on 04/18/2003 6:40:05 AM PDT by Bilbo
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To: AmericanInTokyo
They can only yap more like pissed off dogs, but they will refrain from snapping at heels for the time being.

Don't forget all the leg humping that will follow once we've turned our attention farther east.

14 posted on 04/18/2003 6:40:12 AM PDT by boknows
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To: Brian S
How many nukes will NK have if it manages to turn all 8000 rods into nukes? A handful? Can't we handle a small number of land launched nukes in such a confined area just fine with a thicket of Patriots staged in SK? Some race....
15 posted on 04/18/2003 6:41:26 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: AmericanInTokyo
He sits on a house of cards.........

Speaking of cards............This strikes me as a 'call' in this little poker game we've got going here. Maybe he thinks he can wring a few more goodies from us during negotiations.

However, he IS bluffing with his 'busted straight'.

16 posted on 04/18/2003 6:44:21 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (Dashle/Saadam. Ever seen 'em together? Me neither.)
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To: Bilbo
ma boy kin eat fifty eggs!

What a classic movie.

17 posted on 04/18/2003 6:48:01 AM PDT by The G Man (Hey CNN ... "NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS!!!")
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To: Brian S
Thank you, Bill Clinton.
18 posted on 04/18/2003 7:13:37 AM PDT by The Old Hoosier (Support our troops: Bring them home.)
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To: The Old Hoosier
Nk does little with prior approval from the Red Chinese.
19 posted on 04/18/2003 7:20:31 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Brian S
My only question is if they just restarted the reactor in December, how do they have 8000 spent fuel rods already?
20 posted on 04/18/2003 7:43:20 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici
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