NK to US: "Oh, baby, let me do you in four stages!"

From Kyodo News: NK proposes a "4-stage approach to settling nuke issue."

Highlights from the article:

Under North Korea's approach that also requires the United States to take reciprocal steps in each stage, Pyongyang would declare an intent to abandon its nuclear weapons program after the U.S. resumes suspended oil supply shipments to the North.

In other words, NK can talk, but the US must act-- and this must be true from Step One.

In the second stage, North Korea would accept inspection of its nuclear facilities after a nonaggression pact with the U.S. is signed.

In other words, NK can talk, but the US must act-- and this must be true from Step One.

North Korea, in the third stage, would settle issues related to its missile development after its relations with the U.S. and Japan are normalized.

"Settle issues"?

In other words, NK can talk, but the US must act-- and this must be true from Step One.

In the final stage, North Korea would abandon its nuclear weapons program when light-water reactors that are under construction to provide it electricity are completed under a 1994 nuclear agreement between the U.S. and the North.

In other words: here's the lube. You know where to smear it. Now BEND OVER, BITCH.

What's the big indicator of NK untrustworthiness?

North Korean's chief delegate, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il, made the proposals in a keynote speech Wednesday, the first day of the three-day talks, while denying the North has a program to enrich uranium for nuclear arms, the JoongAng Ilbo said in its Internet edition.

Denying the enrichment program is ballsy bullshit. If the North can lie with a smile on its face, what reason is there to listen to the rest of its spiel?

In other 6-way talks news:

The US and NK won't be holding formal bilateral talks.

In that same ABC News article, we read:

Japan also brought up the nuclear arms issue in its bilateral meeting with North Korea on Thursday afternoon.

Read between the lines: Japanese conservative hawks are gaining fodder from these talks to push for rearmament. Can't say I blame them.

Meanwhile, the two Koreas are planning to boost cross-border trade. This ought to make appeasement easier.

The Marmot mentions that more talks are likely in October.
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