North Korea Backing Down from Complete Nuclear Declaration

Fresh after being caught with highly enriched uranium, the North Koreans are now announcing that they are going to have a hard time making a “complete declaration” of their nuclear activities:

A Japanese daily says North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator has hinted that uranium is not subject to its nuclear program disclosure.

The Tokyo Shimbun quoted Chinese officials as saying North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan told his Beijing counterpart Wu Dawei that plutonium is the key to the disclosure.

The report said the comment reflects Pyongyang’s intent to limit its disclosure to the production and use of plutonium.

The paper also predicted considerable difficulty in the “complete declaration” of North Korea’s nuclear program as requested by the parties to the six-way nuclear talks. [KBS]

Would anyone be surprised if North Korea misses the year end deadline to declare all their nuclear activities all together? I sure wouldn’t. The North Koreans are already saying the US should be “flexible” with the deadline. No matter what happens the Six Party Charade will continue and everyone knows it.