North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (C) visits the ninth squad of the 2752 army unit at an undisclosed place in North Korea in this undated picture released by North Korea's official news agency KCNA on January 18, 2009. (KCNA/Reuters)From Reuters:
BEIJING (Reuters) – North Korea says it has "weaponized" enough plutonium for four to five nuclear weapons, a U.S. expert said on Saturday after talks in Pyongyang.
North Korea has made a series of demands as well as offers of cooperation over its nuclear program as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama prepares to enter the White House.
The North's leader Kim Jong-il appears to have given up handling many day-to-day tasks after suffering a stroke and this may explain the North's hardening stance, Selig Harrison, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a policy institute in Washington D.C., said.
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My Comment: North Korea is hoping that the new administration in Washington would give what it wants, and forgo discussions of nuclear inspection and verification. It is the inspection protocols that North Korea has rejected .... they do not want outsiders to check out how they do their business.
From my point of view, the 6 nations who are party to these talks should stick to their guns. If there is no inspection and verification .... there will be no support or assistance.
My fear is that the Obama administration will not do this .... they will follow the same strategy and policy agenda as they did when they were in power. They will choose to ignore North Korean behavior, and will accept their assurances that everything is OK.
This is playing with fire .... with consequences that can easily explode overnight in Asia.
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