Doug Jehl helps David Sanger cover his ass in the New York Times. Jehl and Sanger note that allegations North Korea was constructing a “reviewing stand” near a suspected nuclear test site—central to Spring rumors of an impending North Korean…
Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan (right, with the Il-iminator) is wrapping up a two day visit to Pyongyang. Kim Jong-Il reportedly told Tang that “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was the behest of President Kim Il Sung.” Kim also…
The Chinese served steak and cheesecake to Assistant Secretary Hill and Deputy Foreign Minister Kim, sayeth Joel Brinkley at the New York Times.
Maybe it was the duck, but North Korea is willing to attend Six Party Talks in Beijing the week of July 25. A senior administration official traveling with Secretary Rice told Joel Brinkley at the New York Times that North…
Let’s hope DPRK-Iran nuclear cooperation goes as well as their football matches. “A non-U.S. diplomat” gave Louis Charbonneau at Reuters “an intelligence report” that concludes “nuclear cooperation between [Iran and North Korea] has apparently increased significantly during the past year…
A few days ago, I argued that analysts could easily confirm with satellite imagery whether or not North Korea had resumed construction of the 50 MWe reactor at Yongbyon and the 200 MWe reactor at Taechon—something the North Koreans told…
Steel lattice work at the Taechon Reactor in May 1992. Source: International Atomic Energy Agency via Institute for Science and International Security. Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun (subscription only) reports North Korea has resumed construction of the 50 MWe reactor at…
Senators Reid (D-NV), Levin (D-MI), Biden (D-DE) and Rockefeller (D-WV) have urged President Bush “to appoint a special envoy to coordinate Korea policy and represent us in direct dialogue with North Korea and at the Six Party talks.” The argument—outlined…
Chun Dong-young and the Il-iminator himself. Kim Jong Il reportedly told South Korean Unification Minister Chun Dong-young (right), “If the United States treats the North in a friendly manner, we will possess not one nuclear weapon.” Kim also expressed a…
One of Laura Rozen’s readers at War and Piece asks a stunningly simple question about the effect of John Bolton on the “New York Channel” with North Korea: Recent days have seen the “New York channel” used to great success…
