Syria and North Korea's "Friendly Talk"
Last week, members of the Syrian and North Korean governments met for a "friendly talk" in Pyongyang. The two countries have defended the meeting publicly by stating that it was held to strengthen the cooperative ties between the two.
Other countries surmise that the the meeting may have had a more sinister objective. The U.S. deputy secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, Andrew Semmel, said that Syria may be trying to obtain nuclear material from North Korea. Semmel did not accuse anyone, however, he mentioned that A.Q. Khan's black market may be involved.
Israel, a strong ally of the U.S., reportedly made an air strike against a Syrian nuclear installation on September 6th. The U.S. justified the strike by saying that it was aimed at weapons being shipped to Hezbollah. This report further damages U.S. relations with North Korea even though the Koreans have previously tried to improve the relationship by vowing the end their nuclear program.
Other countries surmise that the the meeting may have had a more sinister objective. The U.S. deputy secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, Andrew Semmel, said that Syria may be trying to obtain nuclear material from North Korea. Semmel did not accuse anyone, however, he mentioned that A.Q. Khan's black market may be involved.
Israel, a strong ally of the U.S., reportedly made an air strike against a Syrian nuclear installation on September 6th. The U.S. justified the strike by saying that it was aimed at weapons being shipped to Hezbollah. This report further damages U.S. relations with North Korea even though the Koreans have previously tried to improve the relationship by vowing the end their nuclear program.
posted by Crystal Williamson at 1:07 PM
1 Comments:
Glad to see someone else has taken an interest in this topic. I posted a message on the same subject titled The Syria Connection. Just a comment on your contention that it was a North Korean initiative to begin the elimination of their nuclear weapons program in a move to appease the US. This is, in fact, not the case. Before actually realizing any nuclear weapons grade potential the North Koreans had suspended their nuclear program in return for US energy and food aid. It was only upon Bush's entry to the White House that this aid was suspended, resulting in the resumption of the N Korean program of which the consequences are well known. Of course the fact that (in yet another fine example of Bush administration foreign policy genius) the suspension of aid was followed by the announcement that N Korea was now a part of an "Axis of Evil" (one of whose members was soon invaded and demolished on completely specious grounds) made it all the more certain that the N Koreans would, justifiably, renew their program with the utmost determination.
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