Posted on 01/11/2003 11:07:57 AM PST by GeneD
SANTA FE, N.M. (Reuters) - U.S. diplomatic trouble-shooter Bill Richardson ended three-days of talks with a senior North Korean official on Saturday with a pledge the reclusive communist state will not develop nuclear weapons.
Richardson, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and now the Democratic governor of New Mexico, said he now had hopes rising tensions could be solved peacefully through diplomacy.
"The North Koreans told me that they don't plan to build nuclear weapons and I took that as a positive statement," Richardson told reporters after concluding almost nine hours of talks since Thursday with Han Song Ryol, a high-ranking member of the North Korean delegation to the United Nations.
Richardson, a skilled diplomatic trouble-shooter under former President Bill Clinton, said he was acting as a conduit between the Republican administration of President Bush and Pyongyang.
He said the onus was now on Pyongyang and Washington to reduce tensions raised when North Korea announced on Friday it was withdrawing from the global treaty to stem the spread of atomic weapons and on Saturday when it threatened to end a moratorium on missile testing.
"Ambassador Han has expressed to me North Korea's willingness to have better relations with the United States. He told me the government of North Korea wants to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue," Richardson said.
Richardson, who has negotiated with North Korean officials before said he was encouraged by those statements. He said the talks held at the governor's mansion covered a wide array of bilateral issues and described the discussions as positive, constructive and frank.
"I think they've eased tensions a bit," he said.
Richardson said that while he is not an envoy of the Bush administration, he has been in constant contact with Secretary of State Colin Powell and has delivered harsh words from Washington to the North Korean diplomat.
Richardson said he expressed his concern over Pyongyang's withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the missile test warning.
"I think the governor is a tough negotiator," Han told a press conference in a short statement where he also thanked Richardson and the people of New Mexico for hosting the talks.
NEW GROUND?
Washington, meanwhile has downplayed the prospect of any new ground being covered in the discussions. The talks in Santa Fe were scheduled for two days, but were extended to a third.
North Korea, one of the world's most secretive and isolated states, has had the world on tenterhooks since earlier this month when it shut down monitoring equipment, expelled two U.N. weapons inspectors and threatened to reactivate a nuclear plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.
Tensions have been rising since Pyongyang admitted last October that it had pursued a nuclear arms program in violation of a 1994 agreement.
Richardson, who was also secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, was active in U.S.-North Korean relations in the 1990s.
In 1996, as a member of the House of Representatives, he successfully negotiated the release of a U.S. citizen detained by Pyongyang on espionage charges, and in 1994 worked to free a U.S. helicopter pilot who crossed the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea.
Washington has offered to talk with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions but has refused to negotiate or offer incentives. North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations on Friday condemned that position as insincere.
Richardson, who became New Mexico's governor less than two weeks ago, said his main role during these talks was to listen to what Han to say and report back to U.S. officials.
Richardson and Han have sat down together at the bargaining table before and their nuclear talks have also been spiced with working dinners where Richardson has taken the North Korean envoy to meals featuring New Mexico's famous green chili.
Nah. Chatting with the North Koreans for ten years hasn't hurt anyone. Sending them food and fuel oil hasn't hurt, either.
We've done a great job of feeding a backward totalitarian dictatorship, of listening to their worthless assurances, of supplying their army with fuel and food. Meanwhile the people of North Korea starve, are shot for political opposition, and the government of North Korea has developed ballistic missiles that can hit American cities.
That's what "dialogue" and "humanitarianism" have wrought. And now the idiot liberals demand more of the same. Right. Whatever.
Democrats to Republicans: "Go ahead Charlie Brown, kick the football. I promise I won't pull it away this time....."
Clearly he realized that he had to balance the needs of global peace and security against the appearance of upstaging the current administration.
Clinton's team was so much more effective than Bush's, that bringing in an 'old hand' was really the best option. Someone responsible, familiar with the finer points of diplomacy, like how to balance their need for goods with our needs for peace.
But wouldn't you agree that Madeline might have been a better choice? She's so much more, you know-- sensitive.
Of course, the true reason they are firing up the plant is to make plutoniom to sell to the nations of Islam.
Democratic Senator Robert Byrd said that he “wouldn’t have any hesitancy” about voting to hold Richardson in contempt of Congress. Byrd said Richardson has squandered his reputation in the Senate and would never receive confirmation to any other appointed office. Richardson has been discussed as a possible Democratic vice presidential candidate. “I’m not calling for your resignation at this moment, but you’ve shown a supreme contempt for the committees of this Congress,” Byrd said.
What does it take to be discredited in the Rat Party?
And, a looker, too...
Kim Jong Il said so!
Why? Because one of Bubba's diplomats "mistakenly" showed them satellite recon photos of nuclear sites.
Yet another example of what brilliance the Clinton administration brought to American national security.
And let's not forget that Riady provided the Democratic Party with illegal campaign donations, either. Or that over a hundred people fled the country, never to be heard from again.
Further, let's all remember that Janet Reno refused to investigate any of it. Our enemies donated illegal cash and walked away with out nuclear secrets, and no one did a damn thing. And now we wonder why we have pissant states threatening us with nuclear annihilation.
Much as I detest her too, at least she had the gonads to actually bomb someone now and again.
OK so they were usually sovereign countries, that typically were no threat to us but...
Yes, she had the guts to support the bombing of the Serbs. She had the guts to protect the KLA, a brand of Marxist Islamic fanatics involved in the heroin trade and sex slavery.
She had the guts to support the spread of Islam in Eastern Europe.
Four things:
1) White male
2) Conservative
3) Christian
4) Heterosexual
Steel Wolf, I've been reading your posts with amazement. I assumed you were being sarcastic, but I have a horrible feeling that you're perfectly serious. Please tell me I'm wrong.
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