Word: kim
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...preliminary nature of the deal is clear enough: North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, where it's believed to have produced the fissile material needed to make the six to 10 nuclear weapons Kim is estimated to possess. Pyongyang has also promised to allow international inspectors into the country to verify compliance within 60 days. In return, the North is to receive an emergency shipment of 50,000 tons of fuel oil from the U.S., China, Russia and South Korea. The oil is desperately needed to run electric power plants in the impoverished land...
...uranium program when confronted about it by the U.S. in 2002, has since denied its existence-and may well have hidden it away deep inside a mountain somewhere in the countryside. Rice insisted that "we're going to pursue the issue of the highly enriched-uranium program." But if Kim decides not to "discuss" this issue, as the agreement demands, how will the U.S. and its partners react...
...North's existing nuclear weapons. The question of whether Pyongyang has them is no longer a matter of conjecture: last October the North tested a nuclear weapon (albeit with mixed success), dramatically raising the stakes in the standoff with the U.S. and its allies. The fact that Kim's existing nuclear stockpile is not mentioned in the latest agreement "is probably not an oversight," says Gary Samore, who was head of the counterproliferation program at the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) under Clinton. "That's an indication that the North Koreans are not going to be willing to give...
...hard to see why they would do so. Ever since Bush's speech in 2002 labeling North Korea a member of the "axis of evil," Kim has believed "he has a big, fat target painted on his back," says a former U.S. diplomat. "Kim believes that having a few nukes in his pocket is the ultimate guarantee that no one will try to topple his regime militarily. He's probably right about that, and no matter how much fuel oil or diplomatic goodies we send his way, he's not going to negotiate that away...
...State Department officials deny they've let North Korea off the hook. "He's just wrong," Rice sniffed in response to Bolton's criticisms. The Administration argues that their deal is much stronger than the one negotiated in '94 because it effectively isolates Kim. The Agreed Framework was bilateral, the argument goes, whereas this time North Korea's neighbors-including its closest ally and major benefactor, China-are signatories to the deal, which should force Pyongyang to keep its promises and continue to bargain in good faith. The Chinese were infuriated by Kim's October nuclear blast; President Hu Jintao...