Nork Update

Here we go.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Tuesday it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first provides an atomic energy reactor, casting doubt on its commitment to a breakthrough agreement reached at international arms talks.

The North insisted during arms talks that began last week in Beijing that it be given a light-water reactor, a type less easily diverted for weapons use, in exchange for abandoning nuclear weapons. The agreement reached at the talks' end Monday — the first since the negotiations began in August 2003 — says the six countries in the negotiations will discuss the reactor issue "at an appropriate time."

Both the United States and Japan, members of the six-nation disarmament talks, rejected the North's latest demand.

"This is not the agreement that they signed and we'll give them some time to reflect on the agreement they signed," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in New York, where he was with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at meetings of the U.N. Security Council.

"The Japanese side has continuously said that North Korea's demand is unacceptable," Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

The North Koreans are at it again. The State Department's solution, letting them stew on the negotiations, is precisely the right solution. They should be reminded that our portion of the agreement states that we won't smite them if they give up their existing reactor program; it does not state that we'll give them a light-water reactor if they give up their existing reactors.

Then again, we shouldn't be surprised; double dealing and putting the cart before the horse are hallmarks of North Korean diplomacy.

And then there's this story.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States of intending to disarm the communist country and then "crush it to death with nuclear weapons" — two days after a landmark disarmament agreement that was expected to ease tensions.

North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid and security assurances at six-nation talks in Beijing on Monday — the first breakthrough in more than two years of negotiations.

However, the country's rhetoric since then has cast doubt on its commitment to the agreement and underscored its unpredictability, though none of its negotiating partners say they expect a breakdown in the disarmament talks, scheduled to continue in November.

"The ulterior intention of the United States talking about resolving the nuclear issue under the signboard of the six-party talks is as clear as daylight," the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

What lesson should we take from this story? When you're doing something you shouldn't be doing, take attention off of yourself by accusing the United States of planning an invasion. Don't take my word for it: ask Hugo Chavez!