Word: pyongyang
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...particularly surprised by the latest disagreement. On Sept. 2, the U.S. announced that a weekend of direct talks had resulted in the North's commitment to account for and disable all facets of its nuclear program by the end of the year--the first time, it stressed, that Pyongyang had agreed to a specific timetable on full denuclearization. The North Koreans in turn announced how happy they were that the U.S. had agreed to take Pyongyang off its list of state sponsors of terrorism, something Kim has long sought. The only problem is that the U.S. later flatly denied that...
...soon after Hill claimed victory, the North upped the ante, as it had in the case of the frozen bank assets. Kim Kae Gwan asserted that in his weekend talks with Hill, the U.S. had agreed to take Pyongyang off its annual list of state sponsors of terrorism. It's a goal the North has long sought, and not just for face-saving reasons: membership on the list, alongside nations such as Iran and Syria, denies North Korea access to economic benefits like low-interest World Bank loans. The February agreement had held out the possibility of such a deal...
...already getting some of the economic aid it was promised under the original agreement, so Kim may feel he has some room to pressure the U.S. over the terrorist sponsorship list. And the U.S.'s ability to push back may be limited. Much of the fuel and food aid Pyongyang is now getting comes from South Korea and China. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has no incentive to anger Kim now that the two have agreed to a summit in Pyongyang in October. And the Chinese, in this their glorious Olympic year, have already pocketed the idea that...
...rest of the world - including its neighbor to the South - are beginning to look like a feedback loop. On Wednesday morning, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and Kim Jong Il announced that they will meet for three days of talks at the end of this month in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, just the second time in history that the leaders of the Koreas will have met. But it already seems like a pattern. Back in 2000, with much fanfare, Kim Jong Il met his South Korean counterpart in a historic North South summit, where the two sides worked...
...better than they were in 2000 - and that this time they do have momentum on their side. Back in 2000, it had been six years since the North Korean regime had signed a nuclear deal with the United States, and by the time the two Kims met, neither Pyongyang nor the U.S. had lived up to their sides of a 1994 agreement. This time, diplomats and politicians in Seoul insist, the summit comes amid genuine momentum on the nuclear front - momentum that they believe the meeting at the end of August will add to. Inspectors from the United Nations were...