N. Korea: U.S. Must Alter ‘Hostile’ Policy, (Houston Chronicle)…Jean H. Lee, Associated Press. North Korea said it refuses to give up its nuclear weapons until after the U.S. alters its “hostile policy” toward the North’s government and proves it does not pose an atomic threat to the wartime rival.

 

North Korea Maintains Its Tough Stance, (New York Times)…Choe Sang-Hun, Jan 15, 2008.  In what appears to be its first official message to the incoming Obama administration, North Korea has demanded that the United States normalize relations with it before the North abandons nuclear weapons.

The Tony Soprano of North Korea, Time Magazine, By Bill Powell, Jul. 12, 2007

Illicit Activity and Proliferation, North Korean Smuggling Networks, by Sheena Chestnut, International Security

THE “SOPRANOS STATE”? NORTH KOREAN INVOLVEMENT IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, SHEENA E. CHESTNUT, 20 May 2005.

A timeline on missile development in North Korea: Staff and Wire Reports
Tuesday, February 13, 2007;

White House Voices Concern On North Korea and Uranium, (Washington Post)…Glenn Kessler

The White House yesterday raised anew the possibility that North Korea has an active program to enrich uranium, an issue the administration had played down in recent years as it sought to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs.

In 2002, the administration accused Pyongyang of running a secret uranium program and demanded it be dismantled at once. But the accusation about the alleged uranium program backfired, sparking a series of events that ultimately led to North Korea’s first nuclear test — using another material, plutonium — in 2006. Then in 2007, intelligence analysts backed off the claim that North Korea had an active, full-scale program, saying they had only “mid-confidence” that such a program existed.

Albright said it was “irresponsible and inflammatory” for Hadley to highlight the concerns of just a segment of the intelligence community. “It fans the flames of controversy and hands Obama a hot potato.”

Huge Rally Backs Kim, Military, (Washington Times)…Unattributed, Jan 6, 2009.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied Monday in Pyongyang’s main square to show their support for new year’s policies laid out by leader Kim Jong-il calling for bolstering the military.

Pumping their fists in unison and waving red flags as they marched through Kim Il-sung Square for the government-organized event, the throng vowed to carry out the country’s “military first” policies and pledged their loyalty to Mr. Kim.

Mr. Kim did not appear in footage of the annual march. U.S. and South Korean officials think the 66-year-old leader had a stroke in August. North Korea denies it, but Mr. Kim has not made a live public appearance that would confirm Pyongyang’s claims.

OPINION: Obama Promises Bush III On Iran,  (Wall Street Journal)…John R. Bolton, January 2, 2009, Pg. 15

“You’d have to be an idiot to trust the North Koreans,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said recently … 

… the biggest problem ahead is countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

… The (six party) talks are classic multilateral diplomacy, pursued since 2003 with notable deference to North Korea. There’s been about as much engagement with Pyongyang as consenting adults can lawfully have.

Most recently in Beijing, Pyongyang refused to put in writing what U.S. negotiators say it committed to verbally — namely, verifying its commitment to abandon its nuclear program.

… The charade of verification was only one more ploy to squeeze out U.S. concessions, which Mr. Bush’s negotiators seemed prepared to give.

On Iran, also for over five years, Mr. Bush has endorsed vigorous European diplomacy. The Europeans offered every imaginable carrot to persuade Iran to drop its nuclear program in exchange for a different relationship with Europe and America. This produced no change in Iran’s strategic objective of acquiring deliverable nuclear weapons. The only real consequence is that Iran is five years closer to achieving that objective. It now has indigenous mastery over the entire nuclear fuel cycle.

Neither North Korea nor Iran is prepared to voluntarily give up nuclear or ballistic missile programs. 

Iran and North Korea achieved their objectives through diplomacy.  

Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations” (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

A Neutral Note For The New Year, (Los Angeles Times)…Times Wire Reports
North Korea issued a New Year’s message with a promise to strengthen its military, but it broke with tradition by not accusing the U.S. of anything and only briefly mentioning its controversial nuclear program.

Frustrating Editorial, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey

The usual tirades and hostile remarks toward Washin, ton were conspicuously absent from yesterday’s editorial, indicating Pyongyang’s expectation that it can build better Washington-Pyongyang ties with the incoming Obama administration.

North Korea’s trade dilemma, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey. The North wants to avoid opening up completely while at the same time obtain as much foreign currency as possible.

North slams Lee’s gov’t, goes easy on Washington, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey.

The communist nation uses a New Year’s Day joint editorial in the country’s major state-run newspapers to make public its priorities for the year.
The North also reiterated its pledge to bolster military power.

While there was no shortage of direct, harsh and lengthy criticism of the Lee administration, conspicuously absent from Pyongyang’s statement was the usual hostility toward Washington.

The 2008 joint editorial had no mention of the nuclear issue. In 2007, the editorial said the North “had nuclear deterrent power” after conducting the nuclear test in 2006.

Pyongyang even skipped its usual demand that the U.S. forces withdraw from the South.

“Totalitarian and independent survival are our unique methods of revolution,” the editorial said, encouraging its people to work to overcome the immediate food issue.

Damages Awarded In USS Pueblo Case, (Washington Post)…Unattributed, December 31, 2008 , Pg. 5  

A federal judge awarded more than $65 million to several men who were captured and tortured by North Korea after the communist country seized the U.S. spy ship USS Pueblo during the Cold War.

In entering the judgment against North Korea, which had never responded to the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. in Washington called the abuse of William Thomas Massie, Dunnie Richard Tuck, Donald Raymond McClarren and Lloyd Bucher “extensive and shocking.”

The Pueblo was seized off North Korea while it was on an intelligence-gathering mission on Jan. 23, 1968. The North said the ship was inside its coastal zone, while the U.S. Navy contended it was in international waters.

One of the ship’s 83 crew members was killed, and 10 were wounded. The crew, led by Bucher, who died in 2004, was released after 11 months of captivity and sometimes torture.

The ship is still in North Korean hands, the only active-duty U.S. warship in the hands of a foreign power.