North Korea announced today it would restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
Well, maybe they’re just sick of high oil prices.
Oh, and they said the US could take their delisting of North Korea from the State Department terrorism blacklist and shove it:
“The DPRK (North Korea) neither wishes to be delisted as a ’state sponsor of terrorism’ nor expects such a thing to happen,” the North’s official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
Analysts have said the North might be trying to pressure the outgoing Bush administration as it looks for diplomatic successes to bolster its legacy. The North might also be thinking it can wait for a new U.S. president to try to get a better deal.
As for rumors that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had a stroke, well, they’re Lies, All Lies! ™:
“It is sophism by bad people who wish ill for our country,” North Korean Foreign Ministry official Hyon Hak-bong said ahead of talks with South Koreans at the Panmunjom truce village that straddles the border, according to a pool report.
Marmot’s Hole: Now, I’d be the last person to question the veracity of a statement coming from a North Korean official, but one wonders what role — if any — Kim’s illness is playing here. Is Kim still calling the shots? If not, who is? Is North Korea’s trying to look tough because something really is going on with the North Korean leadership? Is this a sign that the North Korean military is now in control? And while I’m speculating — completely groundlessly, BTW — might I suggest the possibility that all this talk of a stroke is smoke and mirrors to cover up a coup by military hardliners upset at the nuclear deal?
Ultimately, Kim is probably going to be fine, and this is just a negotiating tactic… but Pyongyangologists could have a field day with this stuff.
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When being safe means heartfelt handshakes between diplomats…
I’ll set up the Slip-n-Slide on Ul San BaWi.
I’m no nuclear physicist, but isn’t it a bit dangerous to run your reactor without a cooling tower?
I tried a similar experiment a few years ago with a brand-new AMD Athlon processor and no cooling fan. The result was a mini Chernobyl inside my PC.
Part of the fun of North Korean KCNA news agency quotes is the odd, outdated terms they use, especially to put down opponents. “You’re a Sophist!” Do North Korean translators learn their English by reading the Lincoln - Douglas debates, or other controversies from the 1800s?
North Korean translators probably learn their English from the pits of honesty. They aren’t concerned about throwbacks, and it’s a great luxury to be able to laugh at Mr Kim. Since they’re all dying up there with him, or whatever. He mocks the world, we mock his language, haha! All dead. They’re all dead!
Actually the North Koreans have been very quick this time. Here is an actual movie that was smuggled out of North Korea, showing the startup of their new reactor.