Apparently, plans for the next round of six-party talks (more appropriately termed “6-party circle-jerk” by Kevin at IA) have hit a bit of a snag, and may be pushed back to January or February. The reason? OK, you might want to sit down for this one - according to Reuters:
[American officials] told Reuters that one main obstacle is North Korea’s reluctance to agree to a U.S. demand for an “effective and irreversible verification regime,” which experts have said would open the reclusive Stalinist state up to unprecedented inspections.
Look, it’s going to take forever and a day to hammer out what is destined to be an unverifiable deal anyway, so it’s not like delaying the talks for another month or two is such a big deal, although I’m sure the South Korean Foreign Ministry is going to get its britches in a bind.
(Hat tip to Kevin at IA)
