Monday - July 16, 2007

North Korea Shuts Down Its Reactor

Ken McCracken over at Say Anything has a good analysis of the situation.

The North Koreans have shut down their sole nuclear reactor, located at Yongbyon. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei stated today that “our inspectors are there. They verified the shutting down of the reactor yesterday.” The 10-person team of inspectors will work for several days applying IAEA seals as the nuclear equipment cools off. The North Koreans are 3 months late in implementing their end of the Denuclearization Action Plan. According to that plan, the nuclear shutdown was to have begun within 60 days of the agreement’s date.

On paper, this is an astounding and world-historic diplomatic victory for the Bush administration, and especially for its chief architect, the indefatigable Christopher Hill. Will this turn out to be a Neville Chamberlain-esque appeasment deal gone awry? It could very well be: North Korea has a history of regarding such deals as merely printed words without meaning. They violated the terms of the much-ballyhooed 1994 Agreed Framework before the ink was even dry. North Korea was a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which they also egregiously violated. In short, a North Korean signature on an agreement means exactly nothing. Yet North Korea is in desperate straits, with no fuel, little help from China, and no friends anywhere in the world. Perhaps Kim Jong-Il really does savor normalization and trade with the rest of the world. It is a very encouraging sign.

History will tell whether this is for real, and the little commie has finally woken up, or if it is another ploy to get more time.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/16/2007 at 06:54 AM   
Filed Under: • North-Korea •  
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