Asia

US Administration believes North Korea will stop the reactor after receiving mere $25 mln of previously frozen funds. Reactor can be re-started at any time. North Korea didn’t agree to end the nuclear program.

conditions assistance to the North on dismantling its nuclear program. Though two Koreas ended war without peace treaty, South regularly provides aid to the North. North Korea reneged on its commitment to stop the reactor by April 14.

Assistant US Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived in North Korea to prop the negotiations on ending the North Korean nuclear program. Hill acknowledged that the parties lost months this spring when the US failed to unfreeze $25 million of North Korean dirty money.

North Korea got back its dirty money, frozen in Macao years ago, and will receive one million tons of fuel oil and other aid. The amount of aid is well below the possible market price of nuclear weapons, and North Korea will use the leverage of re-starting its plutonium reactor to continuously demand more aid.
Though the North Korean nuclear test explosion went sour, with faulty assembly producing a meager 600 tons equivalent blast, the country has already produced significant and unknown quantities of weapons-grade plutonium which can find its way to terrorists and nuclear aspirant states.

North Korea announced it shuts down nuclear reactor after receiving $30 million of its dirty money back and a heavy oil shipment.
Abandoning nuclear capabilities in exchange for less than a billion dollars total aid makes no sense. North Korea bluffs somewhere: it either continues nuclear program, or produced and hidden some nukes for sale, or it had no nuclear weapons at all, as the ultra low-yield test blast suggested.

The reports of Syria building nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance can explain why North Korea agreed to cease its nuclear enrichment. North Korean nuclear program may be transferred to Syria. Despite the reported attack by Israel Air Force, Syria claims nothing was damaged; perhaps Syria doesn’t want to disclose the list of damages.
It is highly doubtful that North Korea ceased its nuclear program in return for international aid worth $300 million only.

The US for the first time released a firm figure of the amount of enriched fissile material produced by North Korea: 110 pounds. That suffices for several tactical nuclear weapons. The exact quantity and whereabouts of North Korean fissile material are unknown.

NY Times reports Rice’s opposition to changing the US rapprochement with North Korea over such a minor detail as North Korea’ transferring nuclear technology to Syria.

What does that mean, “disable”? Take the rods out to reload them later? The US Administration needs to show its voters some success, and accepts the North Korean scam.

Now it’s evident even to the US Administration: the US Ambassador in South Korea declares that North Korea won’t meet the year-end deadline for dismantling its nuclear facilities. North Korea so far didn’t dismantle its reactor or disclose the nuclear facilities. One must be stupid to imagine that North Koreans would lose the cash cow of nuclear weapons in return for mere $300 million aid package.

Olmert visited Japan to present its intelligence service Israeli data on North Korea’s weapons activities, particularly ballistic missile technology transfer to Iran.
Olmert met Condi Rice in Japan.
North Korea predictably flouts its commitment to end and dismantle its nuclear program.
Israel, US seek a solution against the possibly nuclear North Korea, and seek the support of Japan, Korea’s traditional enemy.