E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

U.S., N. Korea Hold Direct Nuke Talks
BEIJING (AP) - Trading the cold shoulder for careful conversation, the United States and North Korea made their first direct contact in four months on Wednesday, huddling on the sidelines of a multinational summit to work through a spittle-laden venomous stalemate over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
Doesn’t the AP reporter know the difference between venom and spittle?
China, South Korea, Japan and Russia joined them in formal discussions, eager to apply a blunt 2 x 4 delicate diplomacy to East Asia’s most alarming security problem -- North Korea. Later, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il sat in chairs off to the side and conferred. ``The U.S. side made comments about easing North Korea’s security concerns,’’ said Wie Sung-rak, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau. ``From what North Koreans said during the meeting, we could read that North Korea is willing to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue.’’
Kim: "But first, can we have something to eat? We’re really hungry!"
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the U.S.-North Korea meeting lasted about 35 to 40 minutes, but he gave no other details. ``There will not be any separate formal bilateral meetings with the North Koreans,’’ said a U.S. Embassy spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Hours earlier, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan characterized the talks as routine. ``What we always indicated is that these will be multilateral discussions. But nothing precludes a conversation across the table between two parties,’’ Buchan said.
James: "So, how’s your golf game?"
Kim: "Not bad, got 18 holes in before I left home, but the course is in terrible shape. All the grass was eaten! Greens were impossibly fast."
James: "Perhaps we can get a round in tomorrow?"
Kim: "That depends on how long the Russians talk!"
The extraordinary three-day, six-country summit, reconvened Thursday, but there was no immediate word on developments. The talks, the result of months of political maneuvering, are taking place on the grounds of China’s state guest house. The host country is balancing its longtime support of the communist North with its robust economic ties to the United States.

Both sides would benefit if a sturdy channel of communication were re-established - even if it didn’t lead to an immediate resolution of the nuclear dispute. Mere agreement this week to keep talking regularly would constitute some degree of success.

If recent history is any indication, though, that road will be bumpy. Earlier this month, North Korea called John Bolton, a senior American diplomat, ``human scum’’ for harshly criticizing Kim Jong Il, the leader of its isolated regime, and said it would not participate in the six-way talks if he attended. Bolton did not attend.
Unless the grand strategy is the "engaged apathy" that Steve DenBeste (hey! Another Steve! Wotta great name!) has discussed, this was a mistake. Bolton should have been the chief negotiator.
The six-party talks are a continuation of discussions from April, when U.S., Chinese and North Korean officials met in Beijing. The North’s government had long demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but dropped its objections to the multilateral arrangement after Beijing agreed to host it.

A congenial air prevailed as the six countries’ chief envoys posed for cameras, shaking hands firmly and smiling broadly before adjourning to an chandelier-lit chamber and snapping to work around a specially assembled hexagon negotiating table.
"Hey, Kim, you old back-stabbing Commie whore, what’s shaking?"
"Jimmy! My favorite running-dog imperalist! Not much, how’s tricks with you?"
Alexander Losyukov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and head of his country’s delegation, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that he wouldn’t necessarily predict immediate progress as a result of the meeting. ``The sides have advanced a number of preliminary conditions which block the development of the talks,’’ Losyukov said without elaborating. He said North Korea declared it wishes to be nuclear-free but expressed concern about ``menaces from the U.S.’’
If they want to be nuclear-free, they can dump the weapons in the Sea of Japan. We won’t complain.
Later, at a dinner hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Kelly and Kim sat side by side and talked for an hour accompanied by translators, Shin said.
"Look James, I don’t care how many times you say it: Peking Duck is not really from Peking!"
The U.S.-North Korean meeting came hours after Pyongyang repeated its demand for a nonaggression pact, saying it would not give up its ``nuclear deterrent force’’ for anything less than that. The United States should ``clarify its will to make a switchover in its hostile policy toward (North Korea) and conclude a nonaggression treaty with it,’’ Rodong Sinmun, the North’s official newspaper, said in a commentary carried by KCNA, the North’s official news agency.
Someone explain to me why a ’non-aggression treaty’ is so important to these goofs.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-08-28
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=18061