North Korea Agrees to Suspend Uranium Enrichment: Reports

I sure hope after the passing of Kim Jong ll, relations between the North and the South can become peaceful.

" Kim Jong-Il's death has prompted discussion about the future of the isolated country and its nuclear weapons program. Experts cited in this CFR Backgrounder believe a post-Kim regime in North Korea would remain a tough nuclear negotiator. "

Source

SEOUL - North Korea has agreed to suspend its enriched-uranium nuclear weapons program, a key United States demand for the resumption of disarmament talks, news reports said Dec. 17

Yonhap news agency and the Chosun Ilbo daily quoted an unidentified diplomatic source saying that Washington had also agreed to provide the North with up to 240,000 tons of food aid.

Japan to help fund a Southern Corridor linking Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar

reply to post by Daedal


This was two days ago, lets hope that it stays that away after his passing, because if it doesn't, then we are all screwed!

reply to post by Daedal

The sad thing is that the Koreans are a really nice, kind and friendly race that got divided due to the west. The US got the South and the USSR got the North. I've watched many great (and I mean Hollywood great) movies from (I would guess South) Korea which lets you get at least a partial insight into them and their way of life and customs there and I've also watched an "illegal" or smuggled documentary made in the North by a western journalist.

It's so sad but you do notice in both halves of the country the same qualities in the people but in the North it's just surreal how they are controlled and suppressed. The journalist who went to the North was greeted with much pomp and ceremony at the organised tourist places. It was also often very "Praise the Lord!", only they were referring to their Glorious Leader and not a religious figure. He was escorted daily by an official, paranoid guide everywhere. He was directed to certain tourist areas where he was often the only visitor. Imagine sitting in the restaurant of oh say...the Empire State Building and dining alone and having 5 people wait on you. It was that kinda weird. He was also not allowed to talk to anyone except his guide or the people working at these weird tourist places.

My overall impression was that North Korea might as well be the moon. I hope that things will get at least a little better for them if not much more. Beautiful people.

for now then probly be brought back afterwords/ after food gets there or later down the road... but who knows maybe they will stop itt

Oh it would be nice if this agreement were to hold and be honored. It sounds like Un has been in control by defacto acceptance for at least a year anyway, so the agreement wasn't made without his knowledge and consent that recently.

I'd say everyone ought to do some reading about the new leader of North Korea. I found it very useful to use google and simply use additional search options, by date and run back a number of years as the start point and a few days ago as the end point so everything since the death was announced was blocked.

This guy is an alcoholic nut case...and that is about the best I've seen said. The only Westerner to really have ever spent time with him and is available to say anything was a Japanese cook and he described the guy as vicious and dangerous even as a youngster. This will be interesting.

He's been groomed for this for at least a couple years, so we can always hope that process has seasoned and matured the late 20's something. It appears the world's best spies can't even agree on what year Un was born. lol... Oh this will be interesting to watch.


Oh another note.... He apparently "worshipped" Jean-Claude Van Damme, so maybe Obama can make him the Ambassador at Large for North Korea and get some things accomplished. The reports out of the DPRK over the years have been so odd, that might just be a decent idea.

Lets just hope the U.S. Government doesn't go over there and bully them... If this source is true then that is a good thing, and in my eyes that means peace. Maybe we should start doing that.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

You paint for me at least, a mental picture of a combination of the Korean version of Bruce Lee crossed with Uday Hussein. Thank you!

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver

Don't thank me... lol

Who is Kim Jong-un?

That was one of the nicer articles. The whole thing is, no one really knows much for certain. Most reports say he went to Sweden for boarding school, but some experts in Seoul say he never left North Korea. Numerous reports agree on the heavy drinking part after the mother...possible mother...died in 2004. Apparently, the parentage isn't 100% agreed upon either.

I'll just bet South Korean intelligence knows a great deal about him...but they aren't telling and never can for the safety of whatever source would supply anything reliable. What a nation to have become a focus at this moment in time.

" The death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il--and its trial launch of a short-range missile--creates instability in the region and uncertainty around the North Korea nuclear program. NTI, in partnership with James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, offers extensive web resources for reporters looking for background and information on the North Korea nuclear weapons program. "

Overview of it's WMD program

Overview of North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program

Interactive Map of North Korea's Nuclear-Related Facilities

Listing of it's WMD related facilities

Status of Non-Proliferation Related Treaties

Annotated North Korea Chronology (lengthy PDF)

North Korea Missile Capabilities


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea test-fired a short-range missile on its eastern coast on Monday, the day its leader Kim Jong-il's death was announced, South Korean media reported.

Source / Alternative source

The missile test reportedly occurred from the east coast of North Korea. The regime conducts intermittent trial launches of short-range missiles during regular military maneuvers or in connection with delicate political situations, according to Reuters. The most recent launch was believed to have occurred in June (Jack Kim, Reuters/Chicago Tribune, Dec. 19).

Hundreds of N. Korean nuclear and missile experts working in Iran

Who Has North Korea’s Nuclear “Football”? Few Have Answer

This a very good question, and one which remains to be seen..it's not clear whether or not N. Korea has a portable briefcase-sized command-and-control console, like the US and Russia, that allows for a nuclear lauch outside a military command.

Questions remain about whose finger can now access the veritable trigger over the nation’s deliverable weapons -- if there are any.

Source

Pyongyang is estimated as having enough fissionable material for fewer than 10 warheads, though no evidence has emerged to date that it has made any weapons operational by mating them with bombs or ballistic missiles. North Korea has said that its nuclear arms are for deterrence.

By some accounts, Kim, 69, was likely to have played a unique role over the disposition of the North’s atomic arms, both day-to-day and under any imagined combat scenario.

The possibility of weapons grade material being smuggled outside the country to terrorist organizations remains a concern.

( Same source )

By contrast, Victor Cha, a former Asian affairs director at the National Security Council, said Kim’s sudden death could yet lead to serious instability in North Korea.

There is “the potential for loose nuclear weapons [in] a country that is a nuclear weapons state that doesn't have a leadership,” Cha, who now directs Asian studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said on the PBS NewsHour on Monday. “And that is a far more difficult problem than what was already a difficult problem when it came to nuclear weapons in North Korea.”

If Kim Jong-un fails to control arsenal, North Korea could be 'truly terrifying'

North Koreas nuclear and missile programs (PDF)