- Jan 10, 2002
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Bring it mutha fvckers... Threats like that will turn you into glass.
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N. Korea Vows to Fight Any Blockade
China Backs U.S. On 5-Party Talks
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 18, 2003; Page A21
SEOUL, June 17 -- North Korea vowed today to attack the United States if it imposed a blockade on the reclusive communist state over its nuclear program.
North Korea "will take an immediate physical retaliatory step against the United States" if a blockade is mounted, said a commentary carried by the government's official news agency. And war "will immediately spill over to Japan," it warned.
The commentary, carried by the ruling party's Rodong Shinmun daily, was the latest in a string of blustery threats from North Korea as the United States tries to build a unified diplomatic front to force the government into five-party talks.
The Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, joined that plan today, saying his country supported a proposal to bring South Korea and Japan to the table with China, North Korea and the United States. The plan was officially endorsed last weekend at meetings in Honolulu among representatives from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
So far, the North Koreans have rejected that proposal, insisting they must first negotiate directly with Washington. But U.S. officials have predicted that the talks will be scheduled within a month or two.
The United States is moving carefully, for fear of exposing differences among its allies. "We're not at the point of sanctions yet. At this point, we are talking about getting the five-party talks going," said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition that he not be identified.
But the Bush administration has insisted that North Korea be treated with a combination of diplomacy and pressure and has publicly refused to rule out military action.
Japan has begun discussing the possibility of imposing sanctions or a maritime blockade and has increased inspections of a few of the approximately 1,000 North Korean ships that call in Japan each year as part of trade relations. Japan remains cautious about using force.
South Korea resists talk of economic sanctions against its northern neighbor.
In Seoul on Monday, Kathi Zellweger, an official of the Catholic relief group Caritas, warned that economic restrictions on North Korea could cause a famine similar to one that killed hundreds of thousands in 1994-95. "Confrontation, isolation and sanctions hurt the wrong people most of the time," she said.
North Korea has said that any sanctions would be considered an act of war. Its threats are largely dismissed in Seoul and Washington as propaganda, though today's direct threat to Japan is likely to grate nerves in that country.
Washington and its allies here have repeatedly underestimated the North's willingness to escalate the crisis, which began last October when the United States confronted North Korea with long-held intelligence that it was trying to develop material for a nuclear weapon.
Since then, North Korea has expelled international nuclear weapons inspectors, quit a nuclear treaty, restarted a nuclear reactor and buzzed a U.S. spy plane. It has claimed that it is reprocessing spent atomic fuel into weapons material, privately boasted to the United States that it already has nuclear bombs and publicly asserted its right to become a nuclear power.
The North has generally insisted that the crisis can be solved only by direct talks with the United States, but in April its envoys sat down with U.S. and Chinese representatives. U.S. officials prefer the five-way talks because Japan and South Korea, as close U.S. allies, would bring added pressure on the North to dismantle its nuclear program.
Asian officials, however, hint that such talks might also bring pressure on Washington to bargain with North Korea over its program, which President Bush has said he would not do.
In the Beijing talks, North Korea proposed a deal to give up its nuclear program in exchange for a steady supply of energy. Washington dismissed that plan after North Korea's delegates said they might sell or test nuclear weapons.
"How to read North Korea's proposal?" mused a senior official at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. "It's kind of like an initial bid. It's never going to be satisfactory to the other party. But it shows some intent to keep bargaining."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7656-2003Jun17.html