June 16, 2007

North Korea Invites Inspectors To Yongbyon

North Korea has invited inspectors to Pyongyang to start talks on the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear breeder plant that fuels their nuclear-weapons efforts. The move indicates that the Kim Jong-Il regime has been satisfied that their sequestered $25 million will soon be returned, and it could mark the start of a denuclearization program that will leave Iran more isolated than ever:

North Korea announced Saturday that it has invited U.N. inspectors to return for discussions on closing down its main nuclear reactor, suggesting the end of a long stalemate.

The announcement, on the official Korean Central News Agency, indicated that the tangle over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds is nearing an end and held out promise that international efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program may be revived in the weeks ahead.

The chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, expressed hope the Chinese-sponsored denuclearization talks could start up again in July. He told reporters in Ulan Bator, where he attended a conference, that he will be visiting Beijing and other Asian capitals next week to discuss a new round of negotiations.

Transfer of the blocked funds to North Korea "has reached its final phase," the North Korean agency said, and this opens the way for arrival of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to supervise "suspension of the operation of nuclear facilities" at Yongbyon. In a letter to its director, Mohamed El Baradei, the IAEA was invited to send in a working-level team to make the arrangements, the agency added. It did not specify when they would be expected to travel to North Korea.

This announcement comes on the heels of another snag involving the money. The release of the funds turned into a complicated process in order to avoid money-laundering charges. Macau transferred the funds to Russia instead of directly to North Korea, with the blessing of the US. Russia, however, held the funds pending explicit guarantees that the US would not retaliate against Russia for transferring the funds to North Korea. At least so far, they have not transferred the money to the Russian commercial bank that services the Kim regime.

Apparently, though, the move from Macau to Russia has given Kim enough assurance to proceed with the agreement reached in February. Once the money hits the account and the other five parties to the talks give North Korea 50,000 tons of fuel oil, Kim will start shutting down Yongbyon. This may start as soon as next month, when the nations involved start final negotiations on the inspection team and the scuttling process for Yongbyon.

Granted, events could overtake this step -- that's been the entire experience of the North Korean engagement. However, this is as close as we have come to a verifiable shutdown of Kim's main nuclear resource. If it succeeds, we will have only Iran left as a rogue nation pursuing nuclear weapons, and the Iranians will have one less resource to use for their progress.

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Comments (6)

Posted by Carol Herman | June 16, 2007 11:03 AM

I don't bet Korea. All investments, there, are bad ones.

However, looking at the map, I do see the big kahuna is China. And, I'll bet korea ain't got no place to go.

She can't grow out of her hermit state.

And, she knows the chinese aren't happy about the nuke bomb going off at the tip of their border. They also have their eyeballs set on Taiwan. Formerly Formosa. And, according to General Douglas MacArthur, the PRIZE of the Pacific. He who has Taiwan, formerly Formosa, is the kingpin of the Pacific. Because? THAT'S THE GATES IN AND OUT. One million miles of ocean. One strategic point.

Korea, meanwhile, is a closed community. You're trying to say the north is different than the south? Ya can't do it. Because crazies rule.

Which is another reason China doesn't shut her eyes.

Posted by patrick neid | June 16, 2007 1:47 PM

"North Korea has invited inspectors to Pyongyang to start talks on the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear breeder plant that fuels their nuclear-weapons efforts."

oh really. if this proves to be true it can only mean that north korea has completed a better plant somewhere else. once worn, the Ring of Power made by the Dark Lord Sauron, there is no turning back.

dr evil's "mini me" has done such a thing.

Posted by rbj | June 16, 2007 4:05 PM

It's unpossible. Bush is a unilateral moron who just makes the world more unsafe. He couldn't actually negotiate North Korea into giving up its nukes.

/sarcasm.

Posted by Clyde | June 16, 2007 5:16 PM

Oh, puh-leeeeze! Does ANYONE really believe the NorKs are going to negotiate in good faith? If you look up "liar" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Kim Jong Il next to it.

And given the Bush administration's "success" in dealing with the Palestinians by giving them $60 million dollars in money and weapons, much of which just fell into the hands of Hamas (oopsie!), I'm not sanguine about their chances of succes in dealing with the NorKs.

Posted by Carol Herman | June 16, 2007 6:33 PM

Given that Il is ill, there's a pretty good chance that China is exchanging deals for meds. You just never know.

It's CHINA that's unahppy about the korean's propensity to sell nuke stuff to the bad guys for TWO REASONS. And, the first one is that it cuts into China's export market.

The other? There was once a "boom" on some railroad tracks, that took out a forest worth of trees. Etc. So, then, I heard, it was a secret operation. The train? Coming or going into China.

Dubya IS a moron.

Condi is way too stupid to understand the finer points of diplomacy.

But ya still gotta go with "type."

You can't venture so far off course that you think something happens because you'd like to see it so. It has to be lines delivered by actors. And, the poor quality stuff you see with your eyeballs actually brings into line, the POSSIBLE. From the impossible.

China doesn't want to have to clean out the korean rat's nest.

And, as I said, They've got negotiating tools. "Wanna doctor to treat ya? Want meds? China parovides. And, the dictator is doing what Hosni's doing. Grooming the next generation for the day the current leader flops and dies.

What's the size of the Iranian problem, by the way? It's the transport of the terrorists through one door of the network, into another. And, we haven't found a way to stop it. If anything? We're stopped by the language barrier.

But remember this about the key players; the Saud's have invested heavily in the Bush family. They're also very wise in the ways of the CIA. The State Department. And, the politics where freaking muzzies get elected. No. We can't change this!

Life begins with an understanding that some things you just cannot change.

The other thing? Psychiatrists are paid to do profiles on all the top guys. So someone has a file on key players; just like someone walks around with the nuke button. Or suitcase. Or whatever. (Meanwhile, when Bush waded into the Albanian crowds he lost his watch. Lucky for us, he wasn't carrying the nuke button in his pocket.)

The other thing we know, because we see it with our eyes, is that living in the sewer in gazaoo was preferable to those lunatics! Since they were thrilled when Israel pulled out.

Now, they have regrets?

Not worth a hill of beans.

You're dealing with people who take advantage of democracy because they need to be kept houses in cages (jails). And, this helps, too, in tamping down the birth rate.

Iran. Irak. Africa. Other places. And, gazoo. Too many mattresses.

Though, obviously, they've just been looting desks, windows, and chairs. So, let's organize: "CHAIRS FOR PALISTINE."

It has about the same chances of curing all the ills you see.

While it's not a bad bet to assume the sick Il needs Chinese medicine. That's IF what we're told about No.Ko and their nukes is true.

Clyed: Dayton ORDERED the American military to "shore up Fart'a. What make this puzzle seem odd; is that when attacked, Fart'a in gazoo asked Abbas for permission to use the guns and ammo. But all he did was call for some paper and ink, and signed his name to another cease fire.

Those arabs sure know how to take Americans to the cleaners!

Yeah. Olmert was also told (by Condi), to throw Israeli weapons into this stock pot. He declined.

Olmert's barely tethered to his chair. There are limits to what he can do, ya know? Hope he enjoys his pee into a White House toilet. A man with more pride would'a stayed home! You have no idea the crap he's personally taken from Bush and Condi! They had no trouble treating him like dreck. Now? They want something.

Even if you stuff him with Viagra he isn't going to deliver. He knows the political refrain "counting the days." So he plays the weak hand. Between Shaul Mofaz and Ehud Barak, he just bet on the weaker man, still. (Or you thought Barak is a big winnah, huh? Nope.) But Israel keeps its soap opera, alive.

As long as Olmert doesn't lose his pants or his wrist watch in the Oval Office.

Posted by Mike | June 16, 2007 8:05 PM

Goog grief. They've invited inspectors for discussions?! It is Democratic happy-think that sees the mere act of diplomats talking as real accomplishment in the relationships between nations. Is there anything, anything, in our past dealings with NK that suggests that they keep their word regarding any agreement absent the threat of extinction? But hey, they've invited inspectors for discussions, so...