N Korea missile talks fail

[bemildred]

High-level talks between North and South Korea have ended without agreement after North Korea rejected the South’s demands to stop test-firing long-range missiles.

South Korea responded by saying that it would halt aid to the impoverished communist North after the negotiations ended a day earlier on Thursday.

The talks were called after North Korea test-fired seven missiles off its eastern coast last week.

A high-ranking South Korean official said: "We're going to (withhold aid) until we see an exit out of this situation.

al Jazeera

[AnOhioan]

1. North Korea storms out of meeting with South

PUSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - Efforts to bring North Korea back to disarmament talks were in tatters on Thursday as Pyongyang stormed out of a meeting with the South and a senior U.S. diplomat left the region after a week of shuttle diplomacy.

The deadlock threw the spotlight back on wrangling over a U.N. resolution censuring North Korea for its July 5 missile tests, which has pitted Japan against China and Russia.

Snip

Tension between the two Koreas erupted at bilateral ministerial talks in the South Korean city of Pusan, where the Pyongyang's delegation parried complaints about the missile tests and focused instead on economic cooperation and requests for aid.

"The South side will pay a price before the nation for causing the collapse of the ministerial talks and bringing a collapse of North-South relations that is unforeseeable now," the North Koreans said in a statement before leaving for the airport, a day before the meeting was due to end.

More at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060713/ts_nm/korea_north_dc

[bemildred]

2. I guess China didn't tell Kim to be nice. nt

[cliss]

3. ok, let's look at the implications.

South Korea is going to withhold aid until North Korea shapes up. Question: does South Korea provide all aid to this country? And just what is this aid? I'm assuming here rice, food staples, maybe water.

Just imagine what this is going to do to that country. Will that make them more easy-going and ready to negotiate?

These guys are playing with fire. And I really don't believe it's the South Koreans. They get along with N. Korea. They want to be re-united with them.

So who's behind the scenes? = Japan, the U.S.

[bemildred]

4. Really rotten timing to try to apply the thumbscrews, too.

I'm a bit surprised S. Korea went along, but maybe the missile "tests" spooked them.

[Doctor_J]

5. War's a-breakin' out all over

Maybe Il Dunce' will have to cut shrot his vacation this year. Or maybe he'll have NK, SK, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran over for a barbecue to sort out this mess.

:puke: