For the Thousand and First Time, Secretary Rice, We Are Not Giving Up Our Nukes.

The North Koreans must have concluded that our Secretary of State’s failure to register their renunciations of any intent to denuclearize originates in some  lapse of clarity on their part. 

North Korea cannot unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons when it is technically at war with the United States, a pro-North Korean newspaper published in Japan said Saturday.

The Chosun Sinbo said Pyongyang cannot easily surrender its nuclear deterrent because it would be tantamount to lowering its guard while facing an enemy. [Yonhap]  

Just as some Americans abroad  have  imagined that they could make themselves understood  by speaking (in English) LOUDLY AND SLOWLY ENOUGH, the North Koreans must think Rice will get the message if they repeat themselves enough. 

What they do not understand is how determined she is not to hear them.

Here’s a rhetorical question for the rest of us:  why continue to negotiate for a goal — here,  nuclear disarmament — that the other side has repeatedly said it won’t give you?