Kim Jong Il Bluffing????

June 21, 2006 in Iran, North Korea, U.S. Foreign Policy

N.Korea seeks talks to ease missile tensions

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea wants talks with Washington over its apparent preparations for a missile test, Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday as a former South Korean president canceled a trip to Pyongyang due to regional tension.

Yonhap quoted Han Song-ryol, North Korea's deputy chief of mission at the United Nations in New York, as saying that Pyongyang had a right to develop and test missiles but it would like to ease the situation through dialogue.

Full Story here

My gut feeling on this is that North Korea is Bluffing.. They see The US, and EU talking to Iran, and offering them incentive packages for them to stop their Nuclear Weapons Program, and feel that they should get some of those incentives themselves. The quickest way they can get those incentives for themselves is to prove to the world that they are just as bad and and just as much a pain in the ass as Iran is.

AP Update:

U.S. Says No to Talks With North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday it wants direct talks with the United States over its apparent plans to test-fire a long-range missile, but a top U.S. envoy rejected the request.

North Korea this week issued a bristling declaration of its right to carry out the launch and said U.S. concerns should be resolved through negotiations. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said a missile threat wasn't the way to seek dialogue.

North Korea has tried the same tactic several times before to get the US to participate in 1 on 1 discussions. The US has refused each time (rightly so) insisting that when North Korea is ready to discuss the issues the 6 party talks is the venue to do that in.

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3 Replies

Layer Seven

June 21, 2006 at 8:44 am

Bluffing? Not exactly. North Korea is extorting. Oil, food for its million man standing army. Construction of more launching pads. At least, that is exactly what Kim has done continuously throughout his history.

Journalism cannot figure it out, though.

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Darrell

June 21, 2006 at 10:16 am

Layer;

Thank you for your comments.

I think we are saying basically the same thing, the reason I chose “Bluffing” is because North Korea gains a substantial portion of its income from its sale of weapons, including missiles. If we were able to successfully engage and shoot down its missile, N. Korea’s weapons sales would go down with it.

Darrell

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Blandly Urbane

June 21, 2006 at 1:26 pm

Yep, the bottom line what you both say fits right into the M.O.

Unfortunately for the short one, the U.S. hasn’t played into his hands as he is used to. So the time has come for him to repeat himself. North Korea is one of those situations that has had everyone calling for unilateral talks, while everyone bitched about a lack of multi-lateral actions regarding Iraq. Granted, each situation can call for different approaches, but meeting the NK demand of one on one is the first step in answering the “extortion” behind the “bluff.”

We’ve played the game with them before – it’s time to play and/or continue to play by our rules.

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