Asia at the crossroads.
North Korea is hanging on to it's nuclear weapons programme and the negotiating nations are nearing the point of no return:
America warns North Korea that sanctions may replace diplomacy
By Burt Herman in Beijing
Published: 18 December 2006
Talks on North Korea's nuclear programme have reached a "fork in the road" between diplomacy and sanctions, America's top envoy on the issue said yesterday.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill called for progress at the talks, which are set to resume after a 13-month hiatus during which the North detonated an atomic bomb.
Negotiators were gathering to discuss how to implement a September 2005 agreement, the only accord reached at the six-nation talks, under which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.
The negotiators don't sound very optimistic so the outcome doesn't look very promising:
The negotiations will be neither easy nor quick, the South Korean and Japanese envoys said.
`Most Difficult' Conditions
``I think these talks will proceed amid the most difficult of conditions because they resume after a 13-month hiatus and they follow the UN Security Council resolution in the aftermath of the nuclear test,'' South Korea's Chun Yung Woo told reporters at a briefing before the dinner. ``The participants will likely test the waters on the overall measures. I don't think it will be easy to come up with substantive measure in a short amount of time.''
The United States has limited the negotiations to a single point: negotiate or face sanctions.
Matters are difficult owing to the North Korean leader's resolve to retain his nation's nuclear capability no matter what the cost.
Kim Jong Il has subjected the citizens of North Korea to great hardships in order to achieve his vision of becoming a nuclear power as attests the satellite photo (above) which shows only one small point of illumination in North Korea, the capital Pyongyang.
It's evident that he will let nothing stand in his way.
The North Korean leader controls everything in his nation with an iron fist and I mean everything:
