Sir Ignatius Chirol, my dear comrade in arms—it ain’t just the Europeans…
Seoul, defying U.S., backs North on use of nuclear powerSouth Korea objected Thursday to a vital American stance in deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks on North Korea, saying that the North should be allowed to run a nuclear program so long as it is for peaceful use.
A day earlier in Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator to the North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, stood firm in opposition to such a proposal. He said North Korea’s demand for a civilian nuclear program was undermined by its track record of violating international treaties that banned it from using such a nuclear program for weapons development.
“This is a country I think that had trouble keeping peaceful energy peaceful,” Hill said.
In February, North Korea declared that it had built nuclear weapons because of “hostile” U.S. policies, including a plan to invade the North. North Korea, an energy-starved, isolated country, insists that it has the sovereign right to develop peaceful nuclear power, even if it abandons its nuclear weapons in return for a set of diplomatic and economic rewards.
“This is the part where we disagree on with the United States,” Chung said. “We believe that if North Korea returns to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and subjects itself to safeguards agreements and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, North Korea should have the rights as an NPT member country.”
On another note, while Marmot appeals to the realist side of me, the what-in-God’s-name-is-wrong-with-Korea side of me has found a new blog to enjoy: Occidentalism.org. Ahh, refreshing commentary on the madness of South Korea. Keep up the good work, man.
Comments to this entry
Chirol
August 11, 2005
4:20 pm
Yes, I think the same would work for Russia, China, India and Pakistan. South Korea may just have solved the world's nuclear troubles!
Kushibo
August 11, 2005
5:06 pm
Just before the recess, the U.S. side was supposedly saying that North Korea could have a nuclear program as long as it accepted very tight scrutiny.
From the article:
Curzon
August 11, 2005
5:10 pm
The only thing I'll note in rebuttal is:
Basically, there's a source somewhere. The US isn't coming out and saying it, where as the ROK Unification Minister is saying this is the way to go. Those accursed unilateral South Koreans!
Kushibo
August 11, 2005
5:17 pm
Here's on a few choice right-wing Japanese apologism bits:
On the Comfort Women:
In short, I think the majority of the women were normal prostitutes, and a minority were tricked and sold out by their parents. In anycase, tricked or not, all the women were paid for their "Ëœwork'. If there is some soul searching about the "Ëœcomfort women' to be done, it should be done by Koreans that place so little value on the rights of females that parents would sell their own flesh and blood to the sex industry.
On Nanjing Massacre:
...I have read some criticisms of the book "ËœThe Rape of Nanking', which contains many inaccuracies. I think it is certainly within the realm of possibility that a massacre took place, but equally possible that the wartime Chinese government may have exaggerated it for propaganda purposes.
What in God's name is wrong with Korea? People with an axe to grind take aberrant or extreme behavior, depict it as something "everybody" believes or thinks, and magnify it so much you'd think that everyone was cutting fingers off over Tokto, the 1/20,000,000 people who actually did.
I'm all for debunking nonsense, and I have my share of complaints about Korea, but this is way overboard.
ron Patterson
August 11, 2005
9:51 pm
I could "bash" Korea on many points but these are not the ones. particuraly the "comfort women" many of these women were young teens when their familiese were forced to "sell" them,often at gunpoint I might add. That a rich country like japan still denies these women finacial compensation , is an insult to Korea and to women.
Good post Kushibo, shows that even in modern, educated societies, there are racist dinosaurs still poisoning the waters
Eddie
August 12, 2005
12:42 am
Curzon
August 12, 2005
2:10 am
Kushibo
August 12, 2005
10:35 am
Thanks for the comment on Corea/Korea. My only regret (so far) is that it is being used by apologists to undermine the stuff that is genuine.
shakuhachi
August 14, 2005
2:00 am
In what way or manner have I ever tried to justify any kind of atrocity? Rather, it is you that rejects the idea that Koreans had any role in the exploitation of Korean women. I would describe that as apologist. I said clearly that the Japanese government failed to protect the rights of some women tricked by their parents and sold to pimps (often Korean) that ended up in brothels. If anyone here enjoys seeing Kushibo get pounded, read this link in its entirety.
I never wrote any such thing. If you want to debate, debate me and not a strawman caricature of my position. I said the problem was Korean society treating people that chop off their fingers as heroes was the problem, otherwise people would not cut off their fingers.
What have I written that is untrue?