North Korea storms out of economic talks

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

North Korea storms out of economic talks

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 32 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's chief envoy stormed out
of economic talks with South Korea on Thursday after the South
urged its neighbor to honor its nuclear disarmament pledge.

South Korea had wanted to use this week's meetings in Pyongyang
to press the communist country to implement a Feb. 13 agreement
to start dismantling its atomic weapons programs, possibly using
rice aid as leverage.

The North failed to meet a Saturday deadline under the pact to
shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor, saying it wanted to
make sure a separate financial dispute was resolved first.

-snip-

The North's chief delegate, Ju Dong Chan, made unspecified angry
comments to South Korean officials and walked out, the reports
said.

Ju objected to tying the nuclear deal to inter-Korean economic
cooperation, Kim said.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear_aid

[bemildred]

1. N. Korea has been demanding that it's funds be freed for years now.

I don't see why this is a surprise. It was a condition of the agreement on the weapons program, and they have still not got what they were promised. I read a story a while back that said exactly that they would not go ahead with these other agreements until their $50 million was returned to them. Apparently that has still not been done.

[Eugene]

2. The amount is $25 million.

North Korea says that the dispute is still unresolved.
The U.S. says that the money is waiting to be picked up.

Meanwhile, everybody is upping the ante. N. Korea wants
its rice aid. A U.S. politician is demanding the return
of the USS Pueblo...

Two Koreas argue which comes first--rice or reactor - Reuters

[bemildred]

3. It's almost like they don't really want to settle things, isn't it?

:think:

[bemildred]

4. Top military commander implies 'deal with the devil'

The Navy admiral overseeing United States Central Command, the military structure that is carrying out the war in Iraq and other military operations in its vicinity, appeared to imply in congressional testimony yesterday that the United States had made a "deal with the devil."

Adm. William Fallon, who assumed command of US Central Command in March, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday.

In the course of Wednesday's hearing, Adm. Fallon was asked by Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MA), the committee's chairman, about reports that Ethiopia had received a shipment of weapons from the North Korean government in January.

Before answering the question, Fallon first defended Ethiopia's cooperation in the U.S. war on terrorism.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Top_military_commander_implies_deal_with_0418.html

[bemildred]

5. North Korea's burden of crime and terror

BANGKOK - North Korea may in the end get its US$25 million, which has been frozen in a Macau bank since September 2005. But the United States and North Korea still have a long way to go before relations between the two countries can be normalized.

On Washington's part, there are two issues standing in the way of diplomatic relations: Pyongyang's alleged involvement in criminal activities, of which the blacklisting of Macau's Banco Delta Asia as an entity of "primary money laundering concern" is only a part, and the fact that North Korea is still on the US list of terrorism-supporting countries.

As recently as February 16, while the United States was trying to improve relations with North Korea, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) - which provides background briefing papers for members of the US Congress - published a 14-page report on "North Korean Crime-for-Profit Activities".

The report alleges that North Korea is smuggling heroin and methamphetamines, that it produces counterfeit currency and cigarettes, and that it also may be engaged in insurance fraud as a matter of policy.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/ID20Dg02.html