Comments on: Dude, Where’s My Spine? Agreed Framework 2.0 at Four Months

By: OneFreeKorea » Chris Hill (Possibly) Heading for P’yang

OneFreeKorea » Chris Hill (Possibly) Heading for P’yang — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:50:47 +0000

[...] The Chosun Ilbo quotes South Korean sources and speculates that Hill would tell the North Koreans to hurry up and come clean on their declaration, something the North Koreans will feel very little urgencyÂ about given howÂ pliable the United States has been about other recent deadlines.Â From the Chosun Ilbo piece, you can infer that they still haven’t admitted to having a uranium enrichment program.Â Â The Daily NKÂ says that the North Korean declaration is already overdue, and that their plutonium count is running considerably below our estimates.Â [...]

By: OneFreeKorea » My Kind of Spy Scandal

OneFreeKorea » My Kind of Spy Scandal — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:09:25 +0000

[...] *Â Agreed Framework 2 Updates.Â Now that North Korea has “shut down” Yongbyon and allowed U.S. inspectors pretty much full access of the facility by all accounts, the State Department is saying that we’re ready to ship the first 50,000 tons of fuel oil to North Korea, out of a projected total of 950,000 tons when the agreement is fully fulfilled. Before you read on, plant yourself fully in a stableÂ chair, because I think that’s exactly what we should do.Â Read the agreement and what we said we’d do during the “Initial Phase.”Â Yes, all of those deadlines are long gone.Â Yes, the agreement itself is a bad agreement.Â But it’s an agreement we signed, and North Korea has met those initial conditions, meaning we’re obligedÂ to do what we (should never have) promised to do.Â The testÂ ought toÂ be the next phase, when North Korea has to fully disclose its nuclear weapons and programs.Â Â Far better thatÂ the failure point be North Korea’s failure to abide by its commitments than ours. [...]

By: OneFreeKorea » Is North Korea Selling Nukes to Syria?

OneFreeKorea » Is North Korea Selling Nukes to Syria? — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:04:37 +0000

[...] ThisÂ would be a deal breaker for Agreed Framework 2.0 and Agreed Framework 2.1, so the State Department’s less principled personalities have an incentive to disbelieve the story, and to discourage everyone else from believing it.Â In circumstances like those, legitimate questions about this report will be especially difficult to sort out from illegitimate ones, andÂ if this story gets legs in our current political climate, count on plenty of addlebrained conspiracy theories to fog up the image.Â [...]

By: OneFreeKorea » IAEA Confirms Yongbyon Shutdown

OneFreeKorea » IAEA Confirms Yongbyon Shutdown — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:55:50 +0000

[...] Remember that even this is three months late, and we should remember why.Â We’re behind schedule because North Korea made a new demand that wasn’t part of the deal — the return of $25 million in laundered funds.Â [...]

By: The Conjecturer » News Brief, I’ll Bet You Do Edition

The Conjecturer » News Brief, I’ll Bet You Do Edition — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:53:00 +0000

[...] Four months in, the Agreed Framework 2.0 has still done nothing to “solve” the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula. Still hotly debated is the order of responsibility for that piddling $25 million in Banco Delta Asia—were we to release it first, followed by the shutdown of Yongbyon, or was Yongbyon to be shut down before the money was released? This is all part of a larger grand financial strategy adopted under the PATRIOT ACT, which allows the Treasury Department to flag and essentially embargo foreign banks. I’m curious to know if it will be allowed to be effective—Kim Jong-il only returned to the negotiating table once his expensive toys were embargoed and his laundering fronts were frozen. [...]

By: Janus

Janus — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:18:37 +0000

Reading your work is as maddening as it is inspiring. I only wish you were in charge.