Korean Denuclearization

The recent killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier and North Koreans firing off machine-gun rounds at their South Korean counterparts as the six-party talks were to resume in August 2007, are just some of the many surprises and misfires awaiting America after Pyongyang destroyed its nuclear facility at Yongbyon before Korea truly denuclearizes.

North Korea will want the U.S. to take North Korea of the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Dropping North Korea from the list, along with freeing Pyongyang from Washington’s Trading With The Enemy Act, would make it easier for sanctions to be lifted and help ease international suspicions over dealing with North Korea.

The Dear Leader is going to demand that America come clean of listing North Korea on any of its lists of unsavory characters, before he scraps the nuclear program.

The Koreas have been separated by a 248 kilometer-long and four-kilometer-wide demilitarized zone since the end of the 1950-53 war. Minefields and barbed-wire fences guard the approaches to the zone. One does have to wonder how effective they are considering the zone has more wild life species flourishing and growing on the same trails that the four U.S. military defectors took off from their U.S. bases in South Korea, for their own personal rebellious reasons, against America ─ not necessarily because they believed, knew or were prepared for what they defected to.

The North refuses to recognize the line drawn unilaterally by the United Nations Command at the armistice. A big issue is the disputed sea border, brought up again by North Korea, in the course of the denuclearization talks. There will be a lot more misfires at the DMZ and between the six parties at the talks before Korea really comes clean and denuclearizes.