Word: yongbyon
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...well as the prospect that the U.S. will remove the country from its list of terrorist-sponsoring states, end its trade sanctions and eventually enter talks to normalize relations. Meanwhile, Pyongyang agreed "to discuss all of its nuclear programs," including any stockpiles of plutonium already gleaned from the Yongbyon reactor. At her Feb. 13 press conference, Rice emphasized the phrase "all nuclear programs." She says the U.S. and its partners want the North to dismantle both its plutonium-based weapons program and a suspected uranium-enrichment program. "Everybody understands what 'all' means," she says. But Pyongyang, after first admitting...
...Most of the deal's critics, in fact, concede that it is at least better than the status quo: a North Korea bent on producing more weapons. Former Clinton negotiator Dan Poneman likened the latest agreement to putting a "tourniquet" on the plutonium program. If the Yongbyon reactor is shut down, the North's ability to make more plutonium-fueled nukes is crippled. And although Pyongyang has not agreed to dismantle its nuclear program, a path for further negotiations has been set. This is likely the best deal the U.S. could get right now, and the fact that Bush...
...Unfortunately, it does neither. The current agreement simply brings us back to the position in which the Bush Administration criticized the Clinton team for leaving us: freezing and monitoring the Yongbyon facilities without ensuring their complete dismantlement. In fact, we are actually worse off than when the Agreed Framework was signed, as North Korea has used the past five years of wrangling to expand its nuclear arsenal. Nonetheless, a deal is a deal, and better than no deal at all. Never mind that this week's agreement is silent on Pyongyang's uranium enrichment, an issue that precipitated the current...
...what impact will the agreement have? At the very least, it provides the prospect of real improvement on the status quo, which is a North Korea bent on producing more weapons. If the Yongbyon reactor is shut down, the North's ability to make more nukes--or worse, peddle nuclear material to third parties--will be crippled. Although Pyongyang is a long way from giving up its nuclear weapons entirely, the diplomatic path toward that goal is more visible than it has been in years. This is likely the best deal the U.S. could get right now, and the fact...
...Administration can't be accused of overhyping what it got in Beijing. This was not a comprehensive solution that could bring about a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Under the pact, North Korea agreed to shut down within 60 days 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. In return, the North is to receive an emergency shipment of fuel oil from the U.S., China, Russia...