Blatant Reality

With North Korea shutting down its nuclear facilities, questions arise about where will all the atomic physicist go.

Unlike the arms engineers of the former Soviet Union, the North Korean experts are far from the forefront of their field. But they have honed skills in old technology that could spread with relative ease.

Washington and the North’s neighbors worry they could follow the path of Abdul Qadeer Khan of Pakistan, who became a merchant of nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea itself.

A more immediate concern is that failing to assure the scientists’ future could give Pyongyang another reason to resist disarmament.

As with most solutions, more problems always seem to crop up.

In their talks with South Korea, North Korea wants to redraw its borders with the Yellow Sea.

North Korea pressed South Korea yesterday to discuss redrawing their disputed sea border, the scene of bloody clashes in the past, as the two sides began high-level military talks on easing tensions.

North Korea’s lackadaisical approach to the nuclear talks delayed South Korea’s life sustaining shipment of food.

Starvation deaths in North Korea have returned to 1990s levels. That means over a thousand people a week dying from lack of food. Over a million people died during the 1990s food shortages. This time around, the shortages are caused by government refusal to allow in food that must have its distribution monitored (making it difficult for the government to divert the food to the army or private sale). The government also took its time with the current round of nuclear disarmament talks, delaying shipments of food from South Korea. These have just arrived and are being distributed.

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