NKorea signals it's open to US disarmament deal

[dipsydoodle]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- At first glance, it seems like business as usual: North Korea issues an indignant statement taking aim at the United States over a proposal to donate food in return for nuclear disarmament.

But between the lines are glimmers of conciliation. In its diatribe this week questioning Washington's generosity and earnestness, North Korea suggests it remains open to suspending a uranium enrichment program if it can get the food it wants.

Deciphering North Korea's intentions is notoriously difficult, and has been made even more so since the death of long-time ruler Kim Jong Il and the subsequent installation of his young, inexperienced son, Kim Jong Un, at the top.

But how it handles talks with Washington over its food crisis and a decades-old standoff over its nuclear weapons program will provide the strongest clues yet about how the country will behave as it extends the Kim dynasty into a third generation - whether it will lean toward provocation or reconciliation and how tightly it will cling to its nuclear program.

Associated Press Jan 12, 2:34 AM EST http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_US?SITE=TXHAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[DCBob]

1. Nothing is as it seems coming out NK..

but this could be a start in the right direction.

[TigerToMany]

2. t time to throw the gloves down

In North Korea, things are in disarray and people are all over the place. Kim Jong Un is young and doesn't really have much clout yet and the military wants to take a more moderate route. This should be the ideal time to bring them to the table and tell them how it's going to be.

[mainer]

4. "How it's going to be?"

I think this is the time to cool down the rhetoric and try a softer approach. Pride is a very big thing in Asian countries, and playing cowboy and "telling them how it's going to be" will push them into a more belligerent stance. This may be our first opportunity to ease tensions in a generation. We should simply say we welcome talks and that we hope warmer relations are possible.

[Hugabear]

7. Posted safely from behind your compuer, no doubt

Easy to talk tough when you're doing so in complete safety and anonymity. Would you be so jingoistic and hoo-rah if you were serving on the DMZ, or if you had a child or loved one serving on the DMZ?

[David__77]

8. Lol...

Yeah more of the Bush-style imperialism... no thanks. It's time for diplomatic relations and a peace treaty, and the withdrawal of US troops from S. Korea.

[izquierdista]

3. young and inexperienced?

Henry VIII was 17 when he became king; Queen Victoria was 22; the current UK monarch, Elizabeth II was 26 when she became queen.

His age is not what is bizarre here; it that North Korea calls itself a Communist country, not a monarchy.

[harun]

5. Yah, Mehmed the II was 21 when he conquered Istanbul.

Young can also mean aggressive and bold.

[Javaman]

6. This has always been the modus operendi of NK...

they bait the world with threats of this and that, just so it can get food.

sadly, they had to rachet up their bullshit with actually building a bomb.

It's so insane.

meglomania runs deep in its leaders.

if they just acted like adults, the world would be more than willing to help them out with food.

I will never understand how stupidity appears to be a path of reason to some.