The idiots being anyone who thought that Kim Jong-Il would tell us the truth. I mean c'mon folks, the guy says he shot five holes-in-one the first time he ever tried golfing. He lied in 1994 about his nuclear intentions, so we rewarded him by giving him nuclear power. Thanks Jimmy!
Let's turn it over to the folks at the London Times-
North Korea’s assertion that it has “manufactured nukes”, coupled with a declaration that it will boycott the US-led six-party nuclear negotiations for “an indefinite period”, is a coup de théâtre by an aggressively unstable regime that is internally riven and under increasing external pressure. There is no reason for this to be the coup de grâce for disarmament efforts on the Korean peninsula, provided that the demented defiance is handled sternly.
The truth about North Korea’s nuclear capability cannot be verified, but yesterday’s boast is compatible with available intelligence. Pyongyang has never before gone further than to claim that it possessed a “nuclear deterrent”, had weaponised plutonium and was planning weapons tests. Real-ity is not the strong point of a regime that is sustained by a fantastic personality cult, but the new claims highlight the unpredictability of the regime. The intriguing question, given that North Korea has conducted no nuclear weapons tests, may be whether it has made these alleged bombs, or bought them in. Last week Seoul Shinmun reported that Pyongyang had managed to purchase an off-the-shelf nuclear weapon. The report, presumably based on South Korean intelligence, may not be as bizarre as it seems, given that North Korea specialises in the bizarre.
The political, as distinct from military, significance of North Korea’s move is considerable. Since being confronted in 2002 with US evidence that it had cheated on a 1994 agreement to suspend all its nuclear weapons programmes, the regime has tried bluff, bluster and partial truths. Both forced admissions and boastful hints emanated from behind closed doors, in official negotiations or in easily retracted hints to reporters. Never before has it made a formal public statement that it possesses nuclear bombs.
Until yesterday. Not sure why they chose yesterday, but either way, the jig is up, and weapons inspections would be a moot point. Apparently, the North Korean economy is basically propped up by China ever since the Soviets stopped supplying them with aid, and they had been using this aid to bribe Kim Jong to the peace talks. This would seem foolish as well considering that much like Saddam, Kim Jong could care less if his people starve to death. There doesn't seem to be an easy answer to this scenario, but at least we can stop playing games about his intentions.
What fun for Condoleeza! Welcome to the new job Dr Rice, now see if you can peacefully disarm a maniac who has nukes!
Let's see how well Senator Kerry is doing with Kim, and if he had any luck getting through to the dear leader- over to Kim Jong Il (the illmatic)'s liveJournal
. Sea of Flames for everyone!
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