Talks Update: North Korea Defends Its Rights to Cheat and Print U.S. Dollars

There are fresh reminders that the Living, Breathing Document North Korea signed last month can only be described as a “breakthrough” if that description is prominently labelled as journalistic high burlesque. The V-word (no, not the one with its own monologue) looms before us:

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says any agreement with North Korea on providing technology and other incentives in return for giving up its nuclear weapons programs will need a strong verification system. The secretary made the comment on his way to China, which he says is best positioned to convince the Pyongyang government to follow through on last month’s breakthrough in efforts to end the North’s nuclear programs. . . .

“One of the important aspects of it will be the requirement, the need, for there to be an inspections regime that is sufficiently inclusive and complete that it develops confidence on the part of the parties, and the world, that the agreement is being adhered to,” said Mr. Rumsfeld.

Translation: there won’t be a deal unless we’re willing to pretend North Korea won’t keep cheating. Pretty much everyone in Asia (barring Japan) wishes we would, as does half of Washington.

North Korea, which has constructed an unfettered “right” to use atomic energy that does not in fact exist, now questions America’s commitment to The Living, Breathing Document because we have been rolling up Burea 39’s counterfeiting operations:

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Tuesday it doubted Washington’s commitment to a landmark accord reached at the last nuclear talks, criticizing a recent U.S. allegation that the communist nation was involved in money laundering activities.

The U.S. Treasury Department last month accused a Macau-based bank of helping North Korean customers distribute counterfeit currency and engage in other illegal activities. Banco Delta Asia has denied the allegations, saying its relationships with North Korean clients were legitimate and purely commercial.

On Tuesday, an unnamed spokesman for the North’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. allegation was “nothing but a version of the trite psychological warfare conducted by the U.S. administration to justify its hostile policy” toward the North.

“This compels the DPRK to suspect whether the Bush administration has the willingness to implement the joint statement of the six-party talks or not,” said the spokesman, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency.

There may not be much rice up North, but someone has raised a bumper crop of chutzpah.