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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (12366)	4/11/2003 4:16:28 PM
From: Edscharp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

zonder, "China blocks Security Council on North Korea" True enough, but what China does and says publicly can differ markedly from what they do and say privately. You can check out the below post to see what I mean. Message 18778038 I agree that it's far from clear what China's actions will be in this matter, but it is most definitely in their interest to prevent nuclear weapons on the peninsula. If they allow North Korea to keep their weapons South Korea, Taiwan and perhaps Japan could follow suit. "...it seems nuclear power is the only thing that will deter the US from "preemptive" action." Perhaps, but I'm not so sure I'd draw that conclusion just yet. I don't believe it is in USA's interest to allow a country which is actively exporting terrorism to obtain a nuclear weapon. Winning this war against Hussein may encourage Iran to comply with the IAEA protocols.

To: zonder who wrote (12366)	4/11/2003 4:20:24 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21614

"I believe that Iran has restarted its nuclear program and is currently mining Uranium" Impossible. They don't have the resources to upgrade uranium into a useable form.

To: zonder who wrote (12366)	4/12/2003 9:42:54 PM
From: Edscharp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

Zonder, FWIW, Iraq war is nearly ended and North Koreans are (perhaps) changing their tune. Story below. news.lycos.com N. Korea Shifts on Nuclear Talks, U.S. Interested Saturday, April 12, 2003 7:36 p.m. ET By Martin Nesirky and Adam Entous SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea shifted significantly toward U.S. calls for multilateral talks on its suspected nuclear arms plans and Washington voiced interest, saying it would follow up through diplomatic channels. The North Korean comments on Saturday could mark a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff just days after U.S.-led forces removed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power in a war the South Korean president said had "petrified" the North. "If the U.S. is ready to make a bold switchover in its Korea policy for a settlement of the nuclear issue, the DPRK will not stick to any particular dialogue format," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. Until now, North Korea -- its official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) -- has insisted on bilateral talks. Washington, which lumps communist North Korea in an "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran for seeking weapons of mass destruction, wants talks that also include regional players South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. "We noted the statement with interest," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said on Saturday, adding: "We expect to follow up through appropriate diplomatic channels." The United States and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations, but exchange messages through diplomatic channels in New York. The United States can also work through intermediaries such as Russia and China. The North's spokesman did not specify what would constitute a "bold switchover" but the impoverished, energy-starved North has demanded security guarantees and aid in the past. "I hope we can understand North Korea's comments as part of the recent gestures shown by North Korea to take a more positive stance toward the international community's initiatives to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue peacefully," Lee Jihyun, foreign media spokeswoman for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, told Reuters. IRAQ WAR NARROWS OPTIONS Kim Jung-roh, deputy spokesman at the South Korean Unification Ministry, said by telephone Seoul had expected North Korea to shift its position gradually. "Also, as the Iraq war is coming to an end faster than expected, North Korea has less options to take," he said. Roh told the Washington Post in an interview published on Friday the U.S.-led Iraq war had had a profound impact on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and other North Korean officials. "Especially watching the recent Iraqi war I'm sure they are very much terrified...petrified by the Iraqi war," the Post quoted him as saying. North Korea has said it will be the next U.S. target after Iraq, something Washington denies. It says it wants a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis. Roh, who will visit Washington next month for talks with President Bush, also said Kim had made decisions "beyond our commonsense understanding" but he felt the North Korean leader was wise enough to choose an open-ended road rather than a dead-end when it came to the North's nuclear plans. The crisis erupted last October when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted having a covert nuclear weapons program, although the North denied making such an admission. Last Wednesday, the day Saddam's rule ended in Baghdad, the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the North's nuclear stance but did not issue a statement urging Pyongyang to fall into line, because of opposition from China and Russia. DIRECT RATHER THAN BILATERAL The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, referred the crisis to the Security Council after North Korea quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on January 10 and kicked out U.N. inspectors. It later restarted a nuclear reactor. Moscow and Beijing prefer not to put pressure on North Korea through the United Nations but Chinese and Russian diplomats say they have pushed hard behind the scenes to get Pyongyang to shift tack away from insisting on bilateral talks only. On Friday, Moscow said it would reconsider its opposition to U.N. sanctions against North Korea if Pyongyang developed nuclear arms. That, a shift in Beijing's public stance on multilateral talks and the end of Saddam's rule may have tipped the balance. The North Korean spokesman said Pyongyang demanded direct talks to gauge whether the United States had the political will to give up "its hostile policy" toward the North. By referring to direct rather than bilateral talks, North Korea left open the possibility of talking directly with U.S. officials with representatives of other countries present -- a format South Korea and other countries have proposed. "The U.S. asserts a 'multilateral framework' to be participated in by countries around the DPRK but their Korea policy and stand of desiring a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue are clear by and large," the North's spokesman said. "What matters is the U.S." He said the outcome of the Security Council meeting had shown there was no need to "internationalize the nuclear issue" and that to do so would make it impossible to solve the crisis. Just a week ago, before Baghdad fell, North Korea said even a non-aggression pact with Washington might not avert a conflict on the Korean peninsula, divided since the 1950-53 Korean War. Saturday's statement made no mention of a pact, which has been a key North Korean condition for talks. North Korea has a track record of turning up the rhetorical volume before seeking a compromise.