Sun Rises, Geese Fly South, North Korea Reneges on Promises to Disarm

Ad nauseum. Any old excuse will do:

North Korea said on Monday it would never unilaterally dismantle its nuclear weapons and demanded inspectors probe the South to make sure it is not harbouring U.S. atomic arms, further stepping up tensions with its neighbour. [….]

A North Korean army spokesman said in comments carried by the state’s official KRT TV that the North and the South remained in a state of war and it was “a shameless act of imprudence” to believe that one side would willingly disarm.

“There will never be nuclear dismantlement in the North until there is nuclear dismantlement in the South to clear away U.S. nuclear threat,” the spokesman said, repeating similar calls the North has made for inspections in the South.

South Korea and the United States, which has about 28,000 troops in the country, have said there are no nuclear arms in the South. The two Koreas are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with a cease fire, not a peace treaty. [Reuters]

Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, the United States agreed to “provide formal assurances to the DPRK, against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the U.S.” The 2007 Not-Quite-Agreed Framework, aside from reaffirming the goal of “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” is silent on the subject, but the United States has repeatedly and publicly stated that it has no nukes in Korea.

The only reason to negotiate with these people is cosmetic — to hush up the last few fools who still see any other reason to.