Kim Jong-il Opened 2nd Front
Pyongyang lashed out on the United States yesterday for the breach of agreements on winding up the nuclear program. North Korea declared that it had stopped disabling the nuclear reactor and would consider rebuilding the destroyed equipment. That move had been probably inspired by Russia’s actions in the Caucasus that put it on the verge of the confrontation with the West.
North Korea terminated August 14 the denuclearization specified in October 3, 2007 agreement reached in Beijing, during the six-party meeting on North Korean nuclear program. What’s more, the country’s leadership will consider rebuilding the Yongbyon facilities up to the original state.
A couple of months ago, however, it appeared that the nuclear disarmament of North Korea was irreversible. On June 26, Pyongyang handed over to China the details of its nuclear program, and the cooling tower in Yongbyon blew up the next day, completing disarmament that was set into motion in early summer.
In return, U.S. President George Bush told the Congress that North Korea no longer supports terrorism. But the hopes that it would be crossed out of the list didn’t materialize. Pyongyang remained in the terrorist club, now for the lack of progress in its promise to allow outside experts to check the size of nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Russia launched its operation of forcing Georgia to peace. According to the experts, Moscow that confronted the United States and all western community impressed Pyongyang to the greatest extent and prompted a behavior pattern. North Korea accused the United States of receding from reached agreement, suspended the disablement and set to rebuilding Yongbyon facilities
Rebuilding Yongbyon will hardly be possible, but North Korea doesn’t need it actually, as the facilities performed their function for producing plutonium in quantity enough for a dozen of nuclear bombs. The production will be set into motion in remote corner, somewhere in the mountains. The move is risky, but displeased with Washington’s refusal, North Korea may go that far, especially if it views Russia’s actions in Caucasus as readiness to revive the cold war.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 27, 2008
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