North Korea’s delegation to six-nation talks in Beijing said U.S. demands that the communist nation dismantles its nuclear program before seeking aid are "humiliating," the Associated Press said. The U.S. demand "is the kind of humiliating measure that can only be imposed on a country defeated in a war,"
Keep stalling and that’s exactly what will happen.
AP cited Pak Myong, a member of the North Korean delegation, as saying early today in a statement in Beijing. North Korea is willing to "proceed with the six-party process with patience."
North Korea’s patience is not at issue, America’s is.
| Our patience isn't an issue at all. We have full granaries so we can be mighty patient. We can talk and talk long as it takes. It's China's patience that is at issue. |
The six delegations met as a group and there haven’t been any separate talks between the U.S. and North Korean teams, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday at a briefing in Washington. There is nothing ``particular on progress, or lack thereof, at this stage in the talks,’’ he said. North Korea and the U.S. have been in a standoff since North Korea acknowledged in 2002 it had restarted its nuclear arms program. North Korea wants written guarantees of its security and economic aid in return for ending the program.
Blackmail is blackmail. Zero credibility just isn’t scoring any points for Pyongyang despite all their bluster.
The U.S. wants a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program before it considers aid or normal ties. Delegations from the U.S., North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia are trying to arrange a third round of talks at ministerial level to be held before the end of June.
I’d wager it will take until winter sets in for North Korea’s starving military to finally stage a coup. I don’t think anyone’s going to stay at the negotiating table that long. It may even be necessary to interdict all other arriving foreign aid between now and then as well. |