North Korea agrees to nuclear moratorium

[chaos]

I hope this is a sign that Kim Jong-Un is sane. I guess we'll see.

http://www.CSMonitor.com/World/Latest-N ... um-US-says

The United States announced Wednesday that North Korea has agreed to halt nuclear testing and missile launches.
By Andrew Quinn, Reuters / February 29, 2012

The United States said on Wednesday that North Korea had agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests and long-range missile launches and to allow nuclear inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify a halt to all nuclear activities including uranium enrichment.

The U.S. announcement paves the way for the possible resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang and follows talks between U.S. and North Korean diplomats in Beijing last week.

"To improve the atmosphere for dialogue and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization, the DPRK has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities," the State Department said in a statement.

"The DPRK has also agreed to the return of IAEA inspectors to verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon and confirm the disablement of the 5-MW reactor and associated facilities," it said.

The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea's official name.

The State Department said that in return the United States was ready to finalize details of a proposed food aid package of 240,000 metric tonnes of nutritional assistance, and that more aid could be agreed based on continued need.

"The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas, but today's announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these," a State Department statement said.

It said Washington reaffirmed that it did not have hostile intentions toward North Korea and was prepared to take steps to improve bilateral ties and increase people-to-people exchanges.

The announcement followed the sit-down negotiations between the United States and with North Korea last week in Beijing, the first such meeting since the death of its longtime leader Kim Jong-il in December.

The U.S. special envoy for North Korea, Glyn Davies, told reporters those talks made some progress on issues including nuclear non-proliferation, North Korea's demands for food aid and other issues at the heart of regional tension. The talks are aimed at laying the groundwork for renewed six-party disarmament negotiations with North Korea, whose ties with South Korea have deteriorated, especially after deadly attacks on the South in 2010.

[Hokahey]

This isn't the first time they've done this and it won't be the last. Clearly they've learned that we're willing to give them food when they stop waving the big stick, so long as they have one.

[Essence_Smith]

[Hype]

I vacillate about whether or not some non-violent sanctions that lead to harm/death of civilians are either effective or warranted (even if effective). It seems not all that different from a war of attrition... and far less obviously effective. Turning the food on and off at the whims of the ruler seems to be just the same level of cruelty as the ruler. Providing uninterrupted aid would give us the moral high ground, and conceivably undermine the ability of the regime to maintain power, since the folk wouldn't be held in check by starvation and illness.

[Pure Method]

hype, I agree with you.

The notion that the people will rise up against their ruler and greet us as liberators (sound familiar?) is beyond stupid, just a relic from the French Revolution and that whole era of mass politics. Somehow, it's the people's fault their dictator is a megalomaniac with destructive tendencies (speaking of Kim Jung-Il, here). They're being punished for not being able to choose their government. Are they supposed to write a letter to their congress person?

[Jasper]

Providing a free slow of food certainly does nothing but make the dictator appear to be an effective ruler.

There's no question that sanctions and the cutting of aid put pressure on the ruler. The only problem is that when the ruler screams uncle, it's only a short period of time before we relent and he's back to his mischief making. If aid is to be cut, it should stay cut. Let the country bleed. It's only in their darkest depths that the military and the citizens will see the light. We should be beyond worrying about the comfort of the citizenry when such concerns will always make us stop short of really turning the screws. It's a catch 22. I don't like it, but it has to be done for the greater long-term good. It's not like the people aren't already being starved physically and intellectually. They deserve to be set free and reunited with their southern families. That country is going to be reunited in our lifetime(s), and there's no time like the present. We can't keep fidgeting around with shit forever when we are being beckoned by challenges of significantly greater complexity.

[Hype]

Providing a free slow of food certainly does nothing but make the dictator appear to be an effective ruler.

There's no question that sanctions and the cutting of aid put pressure on the ruler. The only problem is that when the ruler screams uncle, it's only a short period of time before we relent and he's back to his mischief making. If aid is to be cut, it should stay cut. Let the country bleed. It's only in their darkest depths that the military and the citizens will see the light. We should be beyond worrying about the comfort of the citizenry when such concerns will always make us stop short of really turning the screws. It's a catch 22. I don't like it, but it has to be done for the greater long-term good. It's not like the people aren't already being starved physically and intellectually. They deserve to be set free and reunited with their southern families. That country is going to be reunited in our lifetime(s), and there's no time like the present. We can't keep fidgeting around with shit forever when we are being beckoned by challenges of significantly greater complexity.

Yeah that's the other side that I vacillate towards.

[Jasper]

Providing a free slow of food certainly does nothing but make the dictator appear to be an effective ruler

Man, I was liquored up when I got home last night. I think I must have meant "providing a stream of free food."

Anyways, it's not like I wouldn't like to see a thawing of relations and a diplomatic solution to these problems, and an eventual opening up up boarders followed by a full reunification. I'd like that, and I hope for that, but this just seems like doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

[Hokahey]

Providing a free slow of food certainly does nothing but make the dictator appear to be an effective ruler

Man, I was liquored up when I got home last night. I think I must have meant "providing a stream of free food."

Anyways, it's not like I wouldn't like to see a thawing of relations and a diplomatic solution to these problems, and an eventual opening up up boarders followed by a full reunification. I'd like that, and I hope for that, but this just seems like doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

And how much of that food actually winds up on the tables of the people that need it? What a sham.

[Pure Method]

yeah, those are good points. Aid distribution is pretty flawed, in practice...

[Hokahey]

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/1 ... ?hpt=hp_t3

Shocking.

It was sad to see people on Facebook celebrating as if something historic and incredible happened when this deal was struck.

[Jasper]

It was sad to see people on Facebook celebrating as if something historic and incredible happened when this deal was struck.

I was embarrassing to see.

[krakle]

It was sad to see people on Facebook celebrating as if something historic and incredible happened when this deal was struck.

I was embarrassing to see.

you were, huh...

[Jasper]

It was sad to see people on Facebook celebrating as if something historic and incredible happened when this deal was struck.

I was embarrassing to see.

you were, huh...

DAMMIT! I meant "it", not "I".

Also, North Korea are being even bigger assholes than usual. Big shock.

[chaos]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/north ... 20861.html

North Korea issues unusually specific threat
By Dylan Stableford | The Envoy – 3 hrs ago

North Korea's military vowed a new and unusually specific threat to its neighbors, saying it would reduce South Korea "to ashes" in less than four minutes.

The statement, released Monday when programming was interrupted on North Korea's state TV by a special report, comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Earlier this month, North Korea was unsuccessful in a long-range missile launch, prompting worries that North Korea may conduct another nuclear test. South Korean officials say new satellite images show that North Korea has been digging a tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third atomic test.

According to the Associated Press, the statement from North Korea was unusual in promising something soon and in describing a specific period of time.

The North Korean military threatened to "reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, (or) in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style."

For months the North has castigated South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and the conservative administration for insulting their leadership and criticizing a new cruise missile capable of striking anywhere in the south.

South Korean officials responded, urging North Korea to end the threats. "We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said, according to the Associated Press. "We express deep concern that the North's threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions."

Meanwhile, in a meeting Sunday with a North Korean delegation in Beijing, China's senior official on foreign policy praised the leadership shown by North Korea's new young leader, Kim Jong Un.

The meeting follows the April 13 launch of what the United States called a disguised ballistic missile test by North Korea. The rocket disintegrated minutes after launch.

[Hokahey]

Not happening. They know it would be suicide.

[creep]

why would anyone take anything they say seriously?

[Hokahey]

why would anyone take anything they say seriously?

The politicians don't. They use it and things like it to promote their need to exist and take your money.

The general public is stupid.