NK/Japan U238 urban renewal program

[Taro Toporific]

N Korea warns of 'total war'
"Breaking news" February 07, 2003 (12:10pm JST)
NORTH Korea has warned that US pre-emptive attacks on its nuclear facilities would provoke a "total war"...
..."When the US makes a surprise attack on our peaceful facilities, it will spark off a total war," said the North's state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun
"down, down, into a burning Ring of Fire..."

[Big Booger]

do you honestly think the US would pre-emptively strike North Korea? WHat do they have that we want? Nothing...

They are just desparate and will stop at anything to stay in the news and improve their current economic condition.

I say we forget about them, ignore them like no tomorrow, and respond only when provoked.
BB

[Smokimassho-o]

Look at how far NK had come in rapprochement with SK, with Japan, and US. Never mind that the whole dreadfully flawed Clinton "deals" were not worth a damn, and that the NKs had never been serious about living up to the agreements--just consider the lengths NK had gone to to improve its image (if nothing else). Then when US started beating the drum for Iraq, NK threw it all away. "Oooooh, we have nukes". The little troublemakers are trying to get US over-extended; making hay while the sun shines, I guess. With the Al-Qaeda and Iraq concerns, looks like they sensed an opportunity to cause the most trouble possible for the one entity which has stood between them and South Korea--the US military.
.
Problem is that NK is easy to deal with--*ignore them*. They aren't going into Seoul any time soon, and that's the only thing they can do which the US might care about . They're not going to blast a Long Dong into Tokyo, they're not going to attack the any nation's Navy at sea. If they precipitate another maritime incident, that will only work against them, as it always has.
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They keep insisting on a NK/US meeting, with no SK input. The goal would be to normalize relations with the US in order to apply political pressure on SK to eject "unjustified" US presence in SK. They see this nuclear extortion as the most likely route. I say Fine, meet with NK. Have the US delegation slap the NK guys around for a while, then ask if maybe they'd like to try the meeting again, but this time with all the players present.
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Do not forget that the famine in NK has not gone away, it is simply no longer reported, presumably because that story's ratings went down or something. Likewise for the network of death camps. The last thing the NK government needs to do right now is delibarately antagonize (even further) the world's most generous supplier of humanitarian aid.

[Taro Toporific]

Problem is that NK is easy to deal with--*ignore them*.

That looks to be the way the Bush buttheads are gonna handle it...

U.S. Says It's Ready After N.Korea Warns of Attack
"Obviously, the United States is very prepared for robust plans for any contingencies," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters, adding that President Bush "believes that diplomacy is the way to handle the situation."

[Blah Pete]

North Korean Diplomacy:

I have 2 nukes. How aide money will you give me for these?