N.Korea Spurns Talks, Rattles Nuclear Saber (No to further talks)

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-korea-north.html

N.Korea Spurns Talks, Rattles Nuclear Saber
By REUTERS Filed at 9:23 a.m. ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it was not interested in further talks about its nuclear program and was beefing up its nuclear deterrent force to repel a possible pre-emptive attack by the United States. Pyongyang's comments came as U.S., Japanese and South Korean diplomats met in Tokyo to discuss strategy to deal with North Korea's declared nuclear deterrent, including how to reassure the communist state about its security concerns.

In Vienna, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog called on North Korea to return to the negotiating table, insisting that dialogue was the only way to resolve the nuclear crisis.North Korea has been under pressure to return to the negotiating table ever since last month's six-party talks in Beijing between the United States, the two Koreas, Russia, China and Japan ended with no concrete outcome.
Known for bluster and raising the stakes before compromising, North Korea said Washington was creating the false impression it wanted to solve the crisis and offer a new proposal."This compels the DPRK to discard any interests or expectation for the talks," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said. <snip>

"Quite contrary to the rumor, the U.S. authorities have not yet manifested its will to make a switchover in its policy toward the DPRK and are still insisting on their assertion that the DPRK should scrap its nuclear program first," the spokesman said.<snip>

Washington wants North Korea to agree to a verifiable and irreversible end to its nuclear arms programs. Pyongyang, for its part, wants a firm assurance the United States will not attack or invade.<snip>

The United States -- which has 37,000 troops in the south to help ward off a communist attack -- has asked South Korea for combat troops to help stabilize post-war Iraq. But South Korea's National Security Council said on Tuesday that security on the Korean peninsula, ``in particular progress in the nuclear problem, cannot but be a fundamental factor to be taken into account'' in deciding on a troop deployment in Iraq.

[bemildred]

1. Yet another member of the "axis of evil" says: bite me.

[papau]

2. I'm glad the adults are now in charge - the world is safer and we are

respected -

Oh wait - that was under Clinton

But then the media will repeat any GOP "Clinton's fault" bullshit and present it without rebuttal or even question. So I expect to soon learn why both Koreas giving us the finger is Clinton's fault.

[mmm]

3. Nukes for sale: Who will be the first customer?

Saudi Arabia looks promising. I would call on them first.
Japan might be a taker, you just never know.
Iran looks like a great prospect, I would offer them and
the Sauds a special deal on freight!

[salin]

4. wonder the role that intel network on WMDs that the whitehouse blewup

would have been in monitoring the situation - will it make it harder to discern if NK does make moves towards selling their weaponry/technology?

[htuttle]

5. Probably

I don't know if Ms. Palme had a regional specialty, but that was definitely her field. I can't imagine that the CIA has too many duplicate networks of informers doing WMD tracking. Whatever they had before, there is one less network of agents looking at it, thanks to Novak and the Bush White House.