North Korea to End Nuclear Program
Tuesday evening Shanghai time, the AP reported that North Korea has agreed to shut down its nuclear weapons program. According to the report:
Under the deal, the North will receive an initial 50,000 tons worth of aid in heavy fuel oil for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor, to be confirmed by international inspectors, Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said. The North eventually will receive another 950,000 tons in aid for irreversibly disabling the reactor.
The United States will begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and also on ending U.S. trade sanctions, but no deadline was set, according to the agreement. Japan and North Korea also will seek to normalize relations, Mr. Wu said.
That’s a lot of aid. Though keep in mind, there have been plenty of agreements in the past that have not been upheld by North Korean dictator Kim Jung Il. If the North Koreans follow through, Tuesday’s agreement will be the first substantial progress made in nearly three years of these six-party talks (China, U.S., Japan, Russia and the Koreas). After 60 days, the six parties will reconvene to evaluate the extent to which North Korea follows the terms of the agreement. Already, there are opponents of the deal, including former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, who believes this deal sends the wrong message to the rest of world. In Bolton’s words, “If you hold out long enough, eventually you get rewarded with massive shipments of heavy fuel oil for doing only partially what needs to be done.” Eh, stop being such a party pooper, Bolton. As China has somewhat spearheaded the negotiations, Beijing comes away from the negotiations looking very diplomatically strong. Though, now that Beijing is in on the agreement, as a senior Bush official pointed out to the New York Times, “If they renege on this, they are sticking their fingers into the eyes of the Chinese.”
•NYT: North Korea to Close Reactor in Exchange for Raft of Aid
•Xinhua: Six-Party Talks End With Joint Document
•AP: N. Korea Will End Nuclear Program