Word: plutonium
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...Bush had to do upon taking office was follow through, and several years of dangerous saber rattling in Northeast Asia could have been avoided. Says Graham Allison, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense under Clinton: "The bad news is that this is four years, eight bombs' worth of plutonium and one nuclear test" after the Bush Administration veered from the course set by the Agreed Framework...
...assistance flowing to the North, as well as the prospect that the U.S. will remove the country from its list of terrorist-sponsoring states, end its trade sanctions and eventually enter talks to normalize relations. Meanwhile, Pyongyang agreed "to discuss all of its nuclear programs," including any stockpiles of plutonium already gleaned from the Yongbyon reactor. At her Feb. 13 press conference, Rice emphasized the phrase "all nuclear programs." She says the U.S. and its partners want the North to dismantle both its plutonium-based weapons program and a suspected uranium-enrichment program. "Everybody understands what 'all' means," she says...
...Most of the deal's critics, in fact, concede that it is at least better than the status quo: a North Korea bent on producing more weapons. Former Clinton negotiator Dan Poneman likened the latest agreement to putting a "tourniquet" on the plutonium program. If the Yongbyon reactor is shut down, the North's ability to make more plutonium-fueled nukes is crippled. And although Pyongyang has not agreed to dismantle its nuclear program, a path for further negotiations has been set. This is likely the best deal the U.S. could get right now, and the fact that Bush...
...needed a success story, even if it turns out to be one more of perception than fact. Whatever the reason, Washington's change of mind is welcome. It's better to stop North Korea's nuclear activities, even at a price, than to allow it to keep churning out plutonium and nuclear weapons. For its part, North Korea has been able to take advantage of Washington's eagerness to engage. All it had to do was give the U.S. government a reason to claim success. Fortunately for North Korea, and unfortunately for the rest of the world, Pyongyang...
...your hopes up just yet. The Beijing agreement calls for Pyongyang "to discuss all of its nuclear programs." To the U.S. and its partners, that means the North must eventually dismantle both its plutonium-based weapons program and a suspected uranium-enrichment program. But Pyongyang, after first admitting to the uranium program when confronted about it by the U.S. in 2002, has since denied its existence--and may well have hidden it away deep inside a mountain somewhere in the countryside, beyond the reach of international inspectors. If Kim refuses to come clean about the uranium-enrichment program, the deal...