North Korea halts nuclear program in exchange for aid

[zuperxtreme]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-p...936296108.html

North Korea has agreed to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches and to allow international inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for food aid from the United States.

The announcement, made simultaneously by the US state department and North Korea's official news agency on Wednesday, paves the way for the possible resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with the Communist state.

It also marks a significant policy shift by North Korea's reclusive leadership after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong-il in December.

"The DPRK, upon request by the US and with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere for the DPRK-US high-level talks, agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and uranium enrichment activity at Yongbyon and allow the IAEA to monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment while productive dialogues continue," the official KCNA news agency said.

North Korea is known formally as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

China, North Korea's only powerful ally, approved the announcement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement posted on Thursday that China welcomed efforts by the two sides to improve relations and preserve peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. He reiterated China's willingness to participate in efforts to restart the six-party talks.

'Profound concerns'

The state department was cautious in its response but said Washington was ready to finalise details of a proposed food aid package of 240,000 metric tonnes of nutritional assistance, and that more aid could be agreed based on continued need.

"The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behaviour across a wide range of areas, but today's announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these," a state department statement said.

A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the development reflected "the close work Seoul and Washington have done to try to resolve the nuclear standoff," while the International Atomic Energy Agency called it "an important step forward".

But really, haven't they done this before?

[Gun Lover]

Originally Posted by zuperxtreme

dat .jpg

[jheit8]

The american imperialists tried this before in the 90's and they never held up to their end of the deal. I hope the DPRK takes any food they do get and tells the imperialists to go fuck themselves.

[slicknickns]

This is utterly shocking. The North Koreans trying to intimidate the west to receive aid? LOL, at the NK's spending the money to start a nuclear program, when they could have used it to invest in food production. Damn those motherfuckers have some pride. Was this a decision started by their new leader?

[a334jv2df]

The fuck are you reading aljazeera for?

[zuperxtreme]

Because it's a good News site?

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by a334jv2df

The fuck are you reading aljazeera for?

Dude, just because they're aired the Bin Laden tapes doesn't mean they're propaganda. They're a legitimate news source. A good one.

[BoneThugJones]

This thread is now dedicated to Kim Jong Il photos.

[Cerberus]

The food should be injected with a genetically engineered virus, with a somewhat lengthy incubation period. Get as many of them as we can before they realize what's happening.

Btw, anyone play Homefront? I thought it was terrible.

[iMagiNation]

lol al jazeera is corrupt as all other mainstream media outlets.

[Lucid]

So when is the United States going to shut down their nuclear program? lol...

[BoneThugJones]

Originally Posted by Lucid

So when is the United States going to shut down their nuclear program? lol...

When someone gives us some mother fucking food. Good luck finding enough though.

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by iMagiNation

lol al jazeera is corrupt as all other mainstream media outlets.

1) Varying degrees of corruption. Fox News and BBC news don't even compare.
2) I can read between the lines and don't believe everything I read.

I guess you get all your news from reliable sources like blogs, right?

[iMagiNation]

lol. it doesnt matter where I get my news. iirc, wikileaks provided evidence that the head of al jazeera was taking money from the US government.

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by iMagiNation

lol. it doesnt matter where I get my news. iirc, wikileaks provided evidence that the head of al jazeera was taking money from the US government.

So what? If you can see through the spin, news outlets are still pretty trustworthy. They haven't taken to fabricating wars that aren't really happening to keep us docile yet. This isn't quite 1984. And it does matter where you get your news, dipshit. If you have some supremely reliable, spin free news source you're not telling us about, you're really just being an asshole by not sharing it with us all.

[iMagiNation]

journalism has always been and always will be a fraud. objectivity is a myth.

[Marsh]

Lol'd so hard at that pic

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by iMagiNation

objectivity is a myth.

No shit, which is why you read many subjective accounts and form your own picture as best you can. Some journalists do a pretty good job at remaining objective too. Granted nothing is 100% objective, but again... that's why you read more than one source.

[iMagiNation]

doesn't help much when most sources parrot one another.