Free Republic

Seoul Denies Hill Chafed at Energy Offer to N.Korea The Foreign Ministry on Friday denied reports that the U.S chief negotiator in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program accused Seoul of undermining negotiations in the last round. A Japanese daily earlier reported Christopher Hill told a closed-door seminar that South Korea’s offer of massive energy aid to the North was making things too easy for Pyongyang. However, the ministry official on Friday conceded that “the negative view toward Seoul’s role in negotiations with Pyongyang is widespread in Washington.” Government officials involved in the six-party talks expect negotiators to make...

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2006, used a roomful of Bakersfield children and an odometer-style ticker Tuesday to draw attention to California's hefty debt. The "California Debt Clock unveiling" inside a day care on South Real Road was just one of Angelides' stops across the state to express his displeasure with borrowing. The clock, about the size of two taped-together pieces of poster board, read more than $25 billion debt in glaring red electric letters. The clock also displayed the debt share amount for a family of four: about $2,700. Angelides said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's...