U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the U.S. has decided to offer security guarantees to North Korea as part of a deal to end Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Such an offer -- to be presented at the next round of six-party talks — would be aimed at giving North Korea a security guarantee in writing while falling short of a fully-fledged treaty, which Pyongyang has demanded. North Korea has repeatedly said it will not give up its weapons program until it has a guarantee the U.S. will not attack.
| It wants a non-aggression treaty. Like Ribbentrop and Molotov worked out. Go figure. |
Until now the Bush administration has said it would not be blackmailed into any concessions and has demanded Pyongyang act first and dismantle its program. Powell said the administration has been trying to come up with a form of words in writing to meet both North Korean and U.S. conditions.
How about "The party of the first part agrees not to kick the living crap out of the party of the second part unless the party of the second part does something typically stupid." I think that should cover it. |
"Nothing has been scheduled yet," Powell said of a new round of talks. However, there were reports on Friday that North Korea had called for a new round of six-party talks in December. A Bush administration official said the U.S. decision on the security offer has crystallized in recent weeks through intensive inter-agency discussions following the Beijing talks, and is aimed at encouraging Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program in favor of better relations with the international community.
"Mervin, find a crumb to toss to them."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary." |
"The North Koreans made pretty clear they wanted this [the security assurances]," the official said. "They didn’t talk that much about economic assistance. This is the one thing they asked for."
| Good. Make sure you don't give them any economic assistance. |
He said that the administration is reviewing old language from U.N. agreements and other security assurances the United States has offered to other countries.
Not good news. |