Nowhere Even Faster

The North’s insistence on keeping its “peaceful” uses of nuclear energy is leading to more anti-progress at the six-nation talks:

There is reportedly still a wide gap over how to phrase the main goal of the talks, North Korea’s scrapping of its nuclear programs. Japanese government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said effective dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program and its verification were fundamental, as was the matter of North Korea’s kidnapping of Japanese, but nothing was clear at this stage. He said the U.S. could not accept things as they were.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo feel North Korea cannot be allowed any nuclear facilities, but hitherto largely silent talk partner Russia on Monday indicated support for the Stalinist country’s insistence on peaceful use of nuclear energy. Valery Yermolov, the deputy head of the Russian delegation, said Russia was prepared to provide North Korea with compensation including development of nuclear power if it agrees to scrap its nuclear arms program.

The latter is studied mischief, not unlike Russian mischief in providing nuclear fuel to Iran despite obvious concerns about dual uses. Recall that Russia provided North Korea with its first batch of plutonium. For “experimental” reasons, of course.

The more ants, the harder it is to get them into the same basket.