Word: pyongyang
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...meaningful conclusion" about whether the North had diverted nuclear material for possible use in weapons. That was enough for the agency to turn the matter over to the U.N. Security Council. The council has the power to impose economic sanctions on the North for its recalcitrance. But since China, Pyongyang's friend, is still likely to veto any such measures, the U.N. at present does not have the inclination...
This gentle strategy flows partly from a widely shared view in Washington that the North may simply have miscalculated when it denied the IAEA complete access to the seventh site. Pyongyang is an exceedingly tough bargainer, practiced at extracting rewards time and again for the same concession. This time it tried horse trading access to the seventh site for Seoul's agreement to postpone an exchange of high-level envoys to discuss nuclear questions, something the U.S. opposed. The IAEA, tired of being endlessly diddled, would not buy the deal, a reaction that appears to have surprised the North. "They...
There are signs that Pyongyang is trying hard not to deepen the crisis. Its talk of destroying Seoul may scare the uninitiated, but this "is not particularly unusual" for North Korean propaganda, says Ezra Vogel, the CIA's national intelligence officer for East Asia. In a statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesman that the U.S. considered authoritative, Pyongyang only vaguely threatened to withdraw from the nonproliferation treaty if Team Spirit resumed in 1994 and other Western pressures were applied -- but it did not denounce Washington's decision to send Patriots...
...romantic view is gone." Kim has shelved plans to encourage investment in the North, toughened the South's military stance and made sure there were no gaps between Seoul and Washington for the North to exploit. Last week he traveled to Tokyo and Beijing to seek allies against Pyongyang's intransigence...
...West is now waiting to see whether Pyongyang backs down. Some analysts are sure the end of the diplomatic road has already been reached. They argue that the regime and especially its unproved heir apparent, Kim Jong Il, view an atomic program as the trump card of their credibility and will not forgo it for anything. Other experts think Pyongyang might eventually give up its nuclear dream, but only in exchange for massive economic aid, a guarantee of Western support for Kim Jong Il's succession and a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South -- concessions neither Seoul nor Washington...