DPRK Forum

Before I begin the next blog post, let me say “welcome back”. I finally got some space for this thing, and it is good until sometime in July, so that means this site should be around a little while longer. As for the frequency of the posts, that may be another issue altogether, because the personal problems are still there. I do not know how it is going to work out, so I am in the dark as much as anybody else.

Also, the forums are there in case any readers would like to discuss things regarding North Korea, current news, politics, off topic threads and other things. None of the users that post here will be tied to the forums, so users will have to register before comments and/or threads can be made. I hope you will take the time to register, tell your friends and perhaps some interesting discussions can take place at the DPRK Forum Forums. There is nothing on there right now, and since I am way behind on the postings of this blog, I will have little time to post stuff on there, but I may make some posts as far as open threads and questions are concerned, will disable comments for that posting, and direct others to the topic at hand on the forums in the most likely feeble attempt to get others to sign up there and start the discussions. I do not know how that will work yet.

Now to the news.

A lot has been going on in the news, and one of them is the letter to the Dear Leader. From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Responding to a recent letter from President Bush, North Korea agreed on Friday to follow through on its pledge to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, provided the United States reciprocates by normalizing relations between the countries.

President Bush said Friday that his initial letter, which was delivered by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, on Dec. 5, achieved its purpose.

“I got his attention with a letter and he can get my attention by fully disclosing his programs, including any plutonium he may have processed and converted some of that into whatever he’s used it for. We just need to know,” Mr. Bush told reporters in the Rose Garden after a cabinet meeting. “As well, he can get our attention by fully disclosing his proliferation activities.”

Emphasis mine. That’s as obvious as the sun rises, but what is not obvious is to what extent Kim will disclose his programs. In my mind, there is really no failsafe way to fully know if everything has been disclosed, and that kind of bothers me. Perhaps North Korea will do it, but if we look to the past, it has not happened before, and while promises were made over and over again, something happens and some ace is up the sleeve. My question is, what will the ace be if any?

Continue reading ‘A letter to the Dear Leader and other news’