your village voice

North Korean Nuclear Agreement

Alright, it's only an agreement, but this historic joint statement deserves some jubilation:

The DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date to the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards.

The United States affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons.

There is little doubt that this agreement is what DPRK Dictator Kim Jong Il wanted from the very beginning. Perhaps, even the Bush Administration will be happy about this as well. Their conquest interests lie more towards the Middle East with Iran. Neither China nor the US could desire any stand-off in their own respective backyards.

Many issues are unresolved however, making this peace process hardly complete. The nuclear facility at Yongbyon is still in operation. North Korea's demand for a civilian light-water nuclear reactor is still being blocked by the US. The question of verifying the scope and scale of North Korea's weapons programs still plague this process.

But it is a start. Hopefully, towards a final agreement.

posted by the prisoner @ 11:58:00 AM