The other shoe has dropped.
Soon after the UN issued its letter telling Kim Jong-il how angry they are at him, the North Koreans have decided to take their toys and go home (Yonhap):
Challenging the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its rocket launch, North Korea said Tuesday it was withdrawing from nuclear disarmament talks and restoring its partly disabled nuclear facilities…
“Now that the six-party talks have turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK (North Korea)… the DPRK will never participate in the talks any longer nor will it be bound to any agreement of the six-party talks,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Not as entertaining as seeing Chris Hill dropped into a shark tank, but it will do.
Of course, readers of Chuck Downs’ somewhat-dated-but-still-a-must-read Over the Line will recognize the move as the expected phase three; “Blaming the other side for the failure of the talks.”
I have been pretty happy with President Obama’s ‘non-policy’ so far and I hope this does not make Washington prematurely lurch towards bilateral talks. Also, I would like to set Sec. ‘o State Clinton reverse the Bush administration’s removal of NK from the State terror list (at least until Pyongyang extradites members of the Japanese Red Army they are harboring to Japan).
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Can we all just ignore Little Elvis now and hope he goes back to his crib?
He, he, he. Actually I’ve spent all day feeling quite pleased. Kudos to the guys and gals that got the “letter” done. The only thing I don’t fully understand is why they couldn’t have put exactly the same words in a full resolution. Still, temperatures must be rising in Beijing and Moscow.
It’s important now for the US to urge the ROK to stick to the Missile Technology Control Regime. Eventually the Chinese will want to be big boys too and have agreements like that.
I thought this (link below) was an interesting story about President Kim Young-sam persuading the Americans not to attack Yongbyon in 1994. Anyone have any idea how likely it is to be true?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/116_43091.html
“Not as entertaining as seeing Chris Hill dropped into a shark tank, but it will do.”
I wonder, what makes a person want to see that?
Thanks for the tip on the book, will have to find that.
I wrote about the madman on my blog today and have a simple solution to get China on the ball with helping to shut this mess down: Arm Japan.
Bobby
Screwed up the link –hopefully my writing is better than my link posting abilities:
http://www.idlewordship.com/2009/04/north-korea-to-continue-producing.html
Gosh, darn! And after all that progress at the negotiating table…
Dealing with the DPRK has generally been very much like being in high school, but in a perpetual game of “chicken.” Right now, Pyongyang has flashed it headlight on its Lada and is picking up speed three miles out, rushing into the lane of your Cadillac. Naturally, if you two collide, the Lada is going to be less than a debris on the highway, but your Cadillac is not going to leave the spot looking very good. So what are you going to do? What is the Lada driver counting on?
You have essentially two three choices: 1) increase your speed and expect the faster and harder you hit the Lada, the less damage will be sustained by your Cadillac; 2) Swerve out of the lane and let the Lada driver claim victory and tell the world you don’t have what it takes (and probably take home some kind prize); or 3) Grow up and tell yourself and others that Chicken is kid stuff and you refuse to play the game.
My guess is that the Lada driver expects you to take option #2, fears but discounts you selecting option #1; and has calculated that it’s too late for you to take #3. But is it really too late? Or is it time to move on?
Perhaps the next time the DPRK can explode a fully functioning atomic warhead. But what then? Can they export it? Would it even be logistically possible? If it was exploded, the device would leave a fingerprint and Pyongyang knows what that would mean.
On the other hand, if the US, S Korea and Japan seize this opportunity to take the initiative and to declare the talks are permanently over and establish a new order of isolation of North Korea, it could come down to a new game called “Make My Day!”
It’s important to remember that for all the bluster that spews out of N Korea, Dear Leader has been proven to be a physical coward. He could blink a lot sooner and harder if the allies for once took the initiative instead of always being in reaction mode as been the case for the past three decades.
I suspect S Korean Pres. MB Lee had anticipated this possibility when he announced earlier this week that S Korea is applying for membership into the Proliferation Security Initiative.
is it me, or is the cumulative sum of these ongoing parts leading towards an excuse for the US to bury their fists into Asia down the road, which is going to lead to a WWIII of sorts….somewhere down the long and winding road of population growth, global warming, flatlined economies, and it’s been a while.
FT:
“…debate flared over a law recently passed by the Afghan parliament. The statute, which applies to the country’s Shia minority, would require women to get their husband’s permission to leave the home and make it illegal for them to refuse to have sex with their husbands…
Similar problems are surfacing in Pakistan, now that the government has conceded control of the Swat valley – just two hours from the capital, Islamabad – to Taliban-style militants.
Since then, a horrifying video has circulated of a young girl being flogged by bearded mullahs for some alleged act of immodesty. Last week Pakistan’s human-rights commission reported that the Swat militants have destroyed 131 girls’ schools since they took power earlier this year.
Both the Pakistan and the Afghan governments are key allies of the west in the conflict formerly known as the “war on terror”. But is it also our business to prevent Afghans and Pakistanis waging a “war on women”?
Western leaders seem confused. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the outgoing Nato secretary-general, condemned the new law and said of the Afghan war: “We are there to defend universal values.” President Barack Obama took a slightly different line. He called the new law “abhorrent”. But he also said that people should remember that American troops are in Afghanistan to fight for US national security and that “we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda”.
So which is to be – universal values or national security?…”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/29212548-2859-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html
Linkd,
Perhaps you can start your own blog? You have so many ideas that need to get out that they are kind of wasted in the comments section of TMH…
That could have been foreseen. In typical form, North Korea will ‘begrudgingly’ accept to the table in 6 months. As usual, they will be handsomely rewarded for their renewed participation in the diplomatic process.
One thing…I wonder if letting North Korea launch the missile was tantamount to ‘calling their bluff’. They can’t possibly afford many of these missiles, or the fuel to launch them. By letting them launch it, or forcing them to do it since North Korea hates to lose face, they were essentially deprived of some leverage.
Did they already stand this thing up on the launch pad? Hmmm, provocative….
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=079&aid=0002050046
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