NAPSNet Top Story: N Korea Says It ‘Weaponized’ Spent Plutonium
Financial Times reported that the DPRK claims it has “weaponized” all of its spent plutonium rods because the US’s hostile policies towards Pyongyang leave it no choice but to develop a “nuclear deterrent”. After making the claims to the UN general assembly in New York on Monday, Choe Su-hon, the DPRK’s deputy foreign minister, said: “We have made clear that we have already reprocessed 8,000 wasted fuel rods and transformed them into arms.”
FOIA Top Story: Eighth United States Army Chronology 1971
The Nautilus Institute Global Disclosure / Freedom of Information Act Project will be publishing a volume from these quarterly histories one a month. These histories from US service or unified commands in the Pacific were released to Nautilus under US Freedom of Information Act requests.
Seoul Should Call Pyongyang’s Bluff
This is a paper by Ralph A Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a Honolulu-based non-profit research institute affiliated with the center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Cossa writes: “North Korea’s attempt to blame Seoul for the lack of progress in the six-party process is disingenuous and insulting. It’s time to call Pyongyang’s bluff.”
Bush’s Hardline Approach To NK Is Producing No Results
This is a paper by Harry Sterling, a former diplomat and Ottawa-based commentator. Sterling writes: “It’s important for President Bush to face up to the fact that he too must be willing to be more pragmatic in dealing with North Korea if the nuclear controversy is to be resolved peacefully.”