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China-Japan-Koreas
Nork Nuke Need Nixed
2005-09-15
BEIJING (AP) - North Korea insisted Wednesday it should get a nuclear reactor to generate electricity in exchange for abandoning atomic weapons development, but the main U.S. envoy at disarmament talks said Washington and its partners have no intention of meeting the demand.

After his first one-on-one meeting with the North Korean delegation at this round of six-nation talks on the communist nation's nuclear program, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the sides "did not make a lot of progress."

"Yesterday was a long friggin' day," Hill said Thursday as he left his hotel. He was expected to meet with Pyongyang's delegation later. "Let's see if we can do a little better today."

Under the offer on the table, North Korea would receive economic aid and security guarantees from Washington along with free electricity from South Korea for dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

The Pyongyang regime has asked for a light-water nuclear reactor, a type believed to be more difficult to be diverted for weapons use. The North was to get two such reactors in a 1994 deal with the United States under which it agreed to give up nuclear arms. That project stalled in late 2002, when U.S. officials said the North admitted to having a secret arms program in violation of the earlier agreement.

"The light water reactor for us is a nonstarter," Hill said Thursday. "We have a pretty good deal on the table (including) security guarantees, a recognition package, access to international financial institutions, and a very serious energy package."

The White House has been highly critical of the 1994 deal, which was reached by the Clinton administration, and says it will not repeat what it sees as past mistakes.

Hill noted Wednesday that North Korea has pursued a nuclear program for 25 years and used it solely to make weapons-grade plutonium for atomic bombs - not for generating electricity. "Not a single light bulb has been turned on as a result of the nuclear reactor in North Korea," he said, referring to the country's main atomic facility in Yongbyon.

Hill warned that the demand for a reactor could become a "major problem" at the talks.
"There's not too many other ways I know how to say 'no' without bitch-slapping the opposing delegate slipping into another language," Hill said of his meeting with the North's delegation. None of the other countries at the talks has stepped forward with an offer to foot the estimated $2 billion to $3 billion cost for building a light-water reactor for North Korea, Hill said, noting it would also take up to a decade to construct. "These are reactors that cost a considerable amount of money, they take a considerable amount of time, and in the meantime ... the same amount of electricity can be pumped into the DPRK in a much shorter time and we can get the DPRK lit up a little more than it is today," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name.

The South Korean offer to provide the North with electricity could begin delivering power in a few years. "It gives no one any pleasure that the DPRK is literally one of the dimmest darkest countries in the world," Hill said. North Korea "needs to be a little realistic about what it needs to do to get its economy going and get its energy needs met," he said.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  mac,from yesterday.>Motorcycle Marauders Murder Minority Muslim Man

comment #4) When writing well-written, worldly words of wisdom, one should stay several steps away from alliterations. In fact, always avoid alliterations; Americans' adhere to high standards of grammar, and you're writing will wow worldwide well-wishers, Welshmen, Waziristani Wankers and Weirdos.
Posted by Floling Elmineling5789 2005-09-14 17:21|| Front Page|| Comment Top

#5 ...and **your** writing will wow worldwide well-wishers, Welshmen, Waziristani Wankers and Weirdos.
Posted by Floling Elmineling5789 2005-09-14 17:23|| Front Page|| Comment Top

#6 whoa!
Posted by Shipman 2005-09-14 19:51|| Front Page|| Comment Top

#7 ...Wild...


Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-14 20:22|| Front Page|| Comment Top

#8 Wild! Whatr wit! Whatever made you worm your way out of the woodwork and onto the World Wide web?
Posted by Mike 2005-09-14 21:02|| Front Page|| Comment Top

#9 Oh, goodie. We have an English Professor grading the articles.
Posted by Pappy 2005-09-14 23:47|| Front Page|| Comment Top

On todays topic: Norks demands ie. ransome payments for "acting right" (drug smuggling, counterfeiting, bodysnatching,sabotage, WMD proliferation, Pueblo, blowing up airlines etc). the Norks can FOAD.

These are all war like acts..I think it's way past negotiating with them. Time to act.
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-09-15 10:34  

#2  Speak for yourself. I'd make it a hell of a lot darker if I was Prez. South Korea would become an island and the only light they'd have in what used to be Norkland would be irradiated land glowing in the dark. I still remember the Pueblo.
Posted by: mac   2005-09-15 05:53  

#1  Nork Nuke Need Nixed,

LOL, Steve. we'll have to wait.
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-09-15 01:26  

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