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May 4, 2007
Kim Keeps Playing
I am almost thinking that the whole North Korea thing is a joke. Have you been following it? The recent deadline, March 15th, for North Korea to start shutting down its nuclear reactors, came and went with no action. The North Koreans complained that they were still unable to get $25 million held in a Macau bank. The U.S. indicated that they had arranged to get all the funds released. According to the North Koreans that has still not happened and as a result, they refuse to shut down their nuclear program. Unbelievable, really. The U.S. is saying there are "technical difficulties". That is a joke. We are talking about $25 million, chump change in terms of the U.S. budget and the world economy. It is like holding up negotiations because of a nickel. It there were a real problem the U.S. would get on the phone, or the North Koreans would get on a phone, make a couple of calls and get this resolved. But that is clearly not happening. The North Koreans, as I have repeatedly suggested, have no intention of shutting down their program.
Hill [Christopher Hill, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs] was hopeful that illicit North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank and scheduled to have been returned by March 15 under the nuclear accord would be freed up soon. The process was said to have been held up by "technical issues."
I have not found any major U.S. newspaper following this story.
Posted by Chip Spear at May 4, 2007 7:49 PM