With Japan, Korean and Hong Kong down for holidays, I expected a slow news day. I also hadn’t expected April Fool’s Day stories on the start of Korea’s Chuseok, Japan’s Aged day holiday and Hong Kong’s mid-autumn festival. I was wrong.
This is unexpected! North Korean, perhaps, seemingly, have …
pledged to drop its nuclear weapons development program
and return to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
In a joint statement issued here Monday, North Korea promised to
give up all nuclear weapons and present nuclear programs and to return
to the NPT as soon as possible, while accepting inspections by the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kushibo, who doesn’t likely remember me from Kexpat, notes:
The North "committed to abandoning all nuclear
weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date"
to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy
Agency safeguards, according to the agreement.In
exchange, the North would receive energy assistance and a pledge from
the United States that it won’t attack. Pyongyang and Washington
pledged in the agreement to respect each other’s sovereignty and right
to peaceful coexistence, and also to take steps to normalize relations.
OneFreeKorea has a look at the six-point statement and says:
Whether you’re exuberant or
despondent about this, your reaction is probably premature, although
everyone is entitled to be despondent about the fact that we may not
know much else until November.
Oranckay looks at the same statement and says:
Having seen the 6 point statement they’ve agreed to I feel obliged to note a serious problem in the translation.
Item 4 should read:
“In the spirit of one-Korean-nationness and for the peace and stability
of Northeast Asia, the DPRK agrees to accept all the BS that comes out
Republic of Korea Unification Minister Chung Dong Young’s mouth as
fertilizer aid, as this will further the cause of juche-oriented
independent intra-Korean reconciliation.”
And NK Zone notes a breakthrough may lead to a return to the 1995 KEDO-agreement status quo.:
It seems that something serious is happening in Beijing. It might be a
false dawn, of course, but at any rate this is how the entire crisis is
likely to end sooner or later: a revival of KEDO in some form, in
exchange for international monitoring.
AsiaPundit says: Whoo 1995! Did I mention how much things feel like 1997? AsiaPundit also says, don’t hold your breath on this… Kim Jong-il loves his nukes.:
September 20th, 2005 at 7:33 am
I think we all have a healthy feeling of skepticism over the agreement, and I wonder if the documents sent to North Korea aren’t at this very moment being tenderized and gently being placed on a roll for the Dear Leader’s golden toilet… The other side of the coin is that the LWR statement was placed in as a face saving (che-myon) measure. But it’s the very point Kim can use to tank the agreement. South Korean President Roh is wildly exaggerating when he states this accord is ‘epoch-making’ (he should just step down already). Also, it was not the efforts of the ‘two Koreas’ (as the Korea Herald says) that caused this to happen; North Korea has been fighting this the whole way, and China deserves more credit than the South. I hope that South Koreans do not become giddy with false hope, as the majority did after the June 2000 North-South summit. And this is not about the ‘Sunshine Policy,’ which I liken to a dead horse; it was great at first, but it died some time ago and South Korea is still trying to ride the bloated corpse. The only realistic verdict, for now, can be – let’s wait and see. More along these lines at;
http://www.dprkstudies.org/?p=59
September 20th, 2005 at 7:38 am
Note: KEDO came about from the 1994 (rather than ‘95) Agreed Framework,
http://www.kedo.org/pdfs/AgreedFramework.pdf
September 20th, 2005 at 10:28 am
Nevermind; Hell thaws:
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050920/610000000020050920094726E7.html
September 20th, 2005 at 11:46 am
China’s role in North Korea talks
After years of failed talks, finally agreement is reached with North Korea over its nukes. The onus remains on the North Koreans to live up to their end of the bargain, but that’s by the by. Far more interesting is what happened to force the issue? Why…
September 20th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Progress Before The Carnage
The amount of finger-pointing and hand-clapping over the purported deal in Beijing is astounding. Aside from the scepticism hurled at the joint statement, its arguable that this sliver of agreement should be jettisoned into space before the sup…
September 20th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
The agreement itself was a surprise, but I’m astonished to know N Korea has changed its mind:
N Korea accord hits first hurdle
Yongbyon plant, North Korea
The Yongbyon plant has been a centre of controversy
North Korea has said it will not scrap its nuclear programme until it is given a civilian nuclear reactor, undermining an agreement reached 24 hours earlier. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4261284.stm
September 21st, 2005 at 5:00 pm
“Kushibo, who doesn’t likely remember me from Kexpat”
I have a vague recollection of a Chris Myrick posting from time to time.
Funny how the blogosphere led to the demise of lists like Kexpat. No, wait, it was the personalities on Kexpat that led to its demise. Is this also the future of the blogosphere?