Word: pyongyang
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...evidence, he's right. Within a few days, the following things happened: Spanish and American forces detained and then released a cargo of North Korean Scud missiles hidden in a stateless vessel bound for Yemen. The shipment was legal, but given the tinderbox nature of Yemeni society, irresponsible. Then Pyongyang announced that it intended to restart work on nuclear reactors that had been closed down since a crisis with the U.S. in 1994; spent fuel from the reactors could be used to build nuclear bombs. One day later, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that recent satellite photographs of Iranian...
...Iraq, as we know, that means using the U.N. inspections regime, backed by the possible use of force, to insist on Baghdad's disarmament. In North Korea, where military action is too dangerous--given the proximity of Seoul to Northern artillery--it means persuading those who have protected Pyongyang in the past to isolate it now. Practically, that means talking to Beijing--Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was there last week--where the U.S. may find receptive ears. Sources tell TIME that the Chinese government is reassessing its past defense of North Korea. In October, for example, Vice Foreign...
...sure that Pyongyang and Tehran are closely watching how the United States deals with Iraq. Though we should try not to upset our allies, it would be even more dangerous to forget this other audience, whose instincts are far more raw and primal...
...China has already fired warning shots across Kim's bow. During a summit this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin put North Korea high on their agenda, and afterwards issued a joint statement urging Pyongyang to drop its nuclear weapons program. Last week, Beijing signaled that Kim, who has visited China twice in the last three years, is for the moment persona non grata on the mainland. Asked about reports that a sit-down between Kim and Chinese leaders was imminent, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said: "There is no such thing." "The idea that China...
...That leaves senior Chinese officials, while probably unwilling to make any major policy changes, considering curtailing aid to Pyongyang to modify its behavior. "The U.S. wants to isolate them," says Don Oberdorfer, a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. "But the Chinese and North Koreans [will continue] to have lots of back-and-forth" dialogue...