Word: pyongyang
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Thus did the North Korean regime escalate a showdown that began last October, when it confirmed U.S. intelligence reports that it was illegally building a new uranium-enrichment factory--another pathway to the Bomb. The expulsion of the inspectors was the clearest sign yet that Pyongyang is intent on pushing the stand-off to the brink. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, lamented that the world now has "no clue" what Pyongyang might try to develop in coming months. In fact, it does have a clue: North Korea, which the CIA believes already has enough fissile...
...spent fuel. Appearing at the door of the Yongbyon guesthouse accommodating the two U.N. inspectors, a smiling North Korean official read aloud a letter informing them it was time to leave--immediately. The official volunteered that there were in fact two seats on the next Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang to Beijing. The inspectors left with 14 discs of surveillance-video footage and 200 discarded seals...
NORTH KOREA Nuclear Dispute Pyongyang announced that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in a major escalation of the crisis surrounding its nuclear activities. It claimed the move was in response to U.S. aggression and also rejected a demand by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, to readmit inspectors expelled last month. Pyongyang is widely suspected of violating the NPT, which bars the development of nuclear weapons. Efforts continued to find a diplomatic solution to the dispute, with Washington offering to hold direct talks with North Korea, but only on the subject...
...asked to "liberate" Iraq. He added the by-now traditional war-is-not-inevitable rider, but made clear that avoiding one was up to Saddam - and that he doubted the Iraqi leader would do so. On North Korea, however, he was more optimistic, insisting that unified diplomacy could force Pyongyang to renounce its nuclear ambitions, even if the same approach had failed to shift Saddam. Whether the reasons for making that distinction is North Korea's infinitely more formidable ability to defend itself by inflicting pain on its neighbors or simply the fact that South Korea and Washington's other...
...Still, North Korea's actions fit a well-established pattern of North Korea negotiating via nuclear brinkmanship, and Pyongyang itself insists that it is ready to renounce its programs in exchange for economic aid and political recognition. While the Bush administration has insisted that it won't negotiate before Pyongyang closes down its nuclear program, U.S. allies in the region - most notably South Korea - are urging that Washington adopt a more flexible approach. That may cut against the administration's political instincts, but the president has strong grounds for stressing the potential for diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff...