GT North Korea

Group Blog

2004-12-06T13:20:00.001-08:00

Over the course of finding and commenting on articles about North Korea it seems that what we have learned that the government has increased its momentum in resolving the threat by North Korea. From the United States led Naval exercise that sent a clear message to North Korea to China joining our side indicate the United States’ approach to the North Korea situation has become a bigger concern. The United States has demonstrated a strict zero tolerance policy towards the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. From our initial to our final article, the concern of North Korea by many Americans is now still a big concern but is slowly approaching a lessened threat from the increased involvement by our government in North Korea. The concern of people’s concern with our government having little regard towards North Korea has also changed for from our actions the momentum change has shown our highest regard to North Korea’s threat. Although there still needs a lot to be done over there in terms of finding the men who are teaching English to the North Korea military which in turn they are creating spies out of those military men who have learned our language. SO North Korea still has a lot to be done but from out increased involvement and persistence to surround North Korea with allies has shown that we have this momentum and attitude to do whatever is needed to resolve this issue. The last event that solidified this momentum was us gaining China’s support to our effort which helps in our effort to surround and pose a threat to North Korea instead of the other way around. With the help of China and our increased talks among Japan, Russia, China, and South Korea it seems as if our momentum has increased and is headed in the right direction in terms of resolving the threat of North Korea.

Group Blog

2004-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Group Blog

2004-11-30T13:20:00.000-08:00

Blog #6 - Dan Grigoras

2004-11-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ever since the North Korea – US relations took a turn for the worst in the 90s, peoples all over the world have lived in fear of what the next step might be in ameliorating the situation. The article Nicole posted, “S.Korea Says North Should Seize Summit Momentum” describes the plan of action proposed by Bush which might be a possible resolution to the situation. Bush recently met with foreign leaders around the world to discuss the possibility of restating the allied offers of security guarantees and economic and energy assistance once North Korea commits to a process of dismantling its nuclear arms programs. South Korea is prepared to make similar negotiations with the country. According to Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, the "Coordinated steps means that when North Korea commits themselves to give up their nuclear development program, then our side will be prepared to provide some provisional security assurances together with energy assistance." Weather or not North Korea chooses to accept this compromise is another matter however. The US and North Korea shared a similar commitment in the 90s which the US backed out of and began this nuclear tension. North Korea could favor compensation for the lost years or spitefully request more benefits before agreeing to the proposal. It could take a while before negotiations are set and North Korea finally agrees to get rid of their nuclear weapons. Very rarely are negotiations settled after first proposal.

Talks

2004-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Clinton administration took what is the wrong approach in many Republicans view. This was the reason the Bush Administration did not follow the bargain Clinton had with Korea. The President is the person in charge, and what he says goes. The Cabinet is the people advising the President. John Kerry might have been right for criticizing Bush, because that could also been taken as a flip-flop. The Kerry campaign sure had been accused of over that throughout these past few months. The Bush Administration changed the direction of the Program to a long-term solution, while Clinton had tried to buy the North Koreans away. The Bush Administration saw this and changed its approach to involve many of the countries surround North Korea, and forcing them to be 'peaceful.' Colin Powell and the President are allowed to disagree, but that is what is good for the American government. The balance of power and the voting populous are allowed to have differences. The difference in opinion does not look good for America though. It is bad policy to have an ambassador say one thing and then public ally take back the policy. It is strange how things work in Washington, and I am not sure that it would have been good to have a change of leadership in the middle of this war on terrorism. This was very vital win for the war on terrorism to continue. With a Kerry victory, we would run the risk of pulling out of Iraq 'cold turkey' that would have talking away the loss of every American life in Iraq. North Korea is next on the war on terror and it is important the Bush and the soon to be secretary of state Rice must work out their differences in a non-public stage.

response to dans article

2004-11-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

i think this article confirms what the world was fearing: that north korea's threats of nuclear weapons was not empty, they have the artillery and seem unafraid to share their plans with us. there seems its possible to have an easy resolution to this entire fiasco, yet somehow nothing is being done. both sides keep going back and forth, making threats of terrorism. i dont see how this is helping anything, since it seems the whole situation could be settled, not easily, but settled somewhat soon. north korea is not asking something impossible of us, just to follow through on what we originally said we would. at the same time, north korea should not stop going to the peace talks with the 5 other nations, they should stop being hypocritical and promote peace as they are asking us to do. i think north korea is being quite extreme with this issue, using nuclear weapons to get other countries to accept your government is definately not the way i would personally handle things. what this country is doing is utterly ridiculous, and even though i know this threatening behavior must stop, i think all countries involved should attend all the peace conferences and put in a lot of true effort to disarm north korea.

North Korea talks

2004-11-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

South Korea's top diplomat discussed that North Korea better get on top of the ball and be careful because of the increased the talks between China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. So by hopefully these increased talks it will spark talks with North Korea and their involvement in nuclear weapons. Like from my last article I do believe Bush is moving in the right direction, from China being on our side and this article explaining the increased talks among the countries. Above all else this seems to be a jump start for diplomatic talks and hopefully a peaceful resolution between the United States and it allies and North Korea. This momentum that is on Bush's needs to keep rolling and hopefully soon resolve this issue from continual talks among everybody. Just among the United States, China, and South Korea it is good to see that North Korea is a top priority on everyone's list and will be handled properly. Hopefully that the proposals submitted by everyone will be taken seriously and into deep consideration so that North Korea's power will be taken away along with their threat. Like I said in my last article with the addition of China siding on our side and just the momentum created there along with the confirmation of South Korea and there desired interest to keep North Korea from power creates a huge momentum factor for the United States. If more countries continue to join in and surround North Korea will be huge. So hopefully this momentum will continue and be beneficial to handling the North Korea situation.

North Korea Blog

2004-11-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

Although an older article it does hit at some key issues on the topic of North Korea and Bush's stance on this issue. Basically the history behind this issue is that the Clinton Administration had diplomatic talks with North Korea and made a deal with them to freeze their nuclear proliferation of these weapons. Then those talks ended and now North Korea has 4 to 7 nuclear weapons. The argument against this is that the CIA confirmed that there had already been a few nuclear weapons produced before Bush took office and that there has been no confirmation on whether more have been produced. Another thing that Bush came back with is that they have been talking with China in joining an alliance to help push North Korea out of power. Well at that time this had not happened yet and as I was searching for articles this week I came upon one from November 20th that said that China did side with us. So in terms of what Bush is doing I think he is heading in the right direction in terms of handling Korea. I mean I am no foreign policy buff in any means but so far it seems like he is doing the right thing. And hopefully these improvements will continue to occur and sooner or later take the threat away from North Korea that it still has now. This is such a big issue that if things continue to got the way in which we got China to join our side then I think this will be resolved and some sort resolution will take place.

Article

2004-11-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Choice on North Korea

Monday, October 4, 2004; Page A22

ONE OF THE substantive surprises of Thursday's presidential debate was the detailed exchange between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry on the critical but neglected subject of North Korea. Prodded by moderator Jim Lehrer, Mr. Bush touted and Mr. Kerry attacked the current U.S. diplomatic strategy for preventing North Korea from becoming a nuclear weapons power. Somewhat esoteric references to "six party" vs. "bilateral" talks and plutonium vs. uranium processing soon were flying back and forth, probably leaving a lot of viewers wondering what the difference was. Here's how we'd sum it up: Mr. Kerry faults Mr. Bush for undoing the diplomacy of the Clinton administration with respect to North Korea and intends to respond by undoing, in turn, what has been accomplished by President Bush.

Let's start with Mr. Kerry's indictment. The Clinton team painstakingly negotiated a deal under which North Korea supposedly froze its nuclear program and international inspectors monitored its known supply of spent nuclear fuel rods. North Korea received energy supplies from the West, and at the end of 2000, U.S. and North Korean officials were discussing a larger bargain concerning its weapons programs. In 2001 Secretary of State Colin L. Powell announced that the talks would continue, only to be publicly contradicted by Mr. Bush in front of the South Korean president. Two years then passed without negotiations: As Mr. Kerry put it, "while they didn't talk at all, the fuel rods came out, the inspectors came out . . . and today, there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea."

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Some truth-squadding is needed here: While the CIA concluded that North Korea may have built one or two nuclear weapons before Mr. Bush took office, and while U.S. intelligence agencies believe the fuel rods have been reprocessed into plutonium, there is no certainty that North Korea has built more nuclear weapons. To say so is to make the same sort of reach that Mr. Kerry faults Mr. Bush for making in his statements about Iraq's nuclear program. Nevertheless, the senator is right about the policy failures. In part because it has been paralyzed by internal feuding between hawks who favor "regime change" and advocates of negotiations, the Bush administration has been feckless in facing the North Korean threat.

Mr. Bush made two points in his defense. One is that President Bill Clinton's deal with North Korea collapsed after Pyongyang was caught cheating: While "freezing" its plutonium, it was secretly pursuing another bomb program based on enriched uranium. The other is that despite an overall diplomatic stalemate the Bush administration has succeeded in persuading China -- a neighbor that arguably has more leverage over North Korea than the United States -- to join a five-nation alliance that commonly seeks disarmament. It is this innovation that Mr. Kerry would undo. He says he would return to the bilateral negotiations pursued by the Clinton administration.

Mr. Kerry says his strategy would make room for China, too. But Mr. Bush's prediction is probably right: As soon as the United States agrees to bilateral talks, the North Korean regime will refuse further sessions of the "six party" negotiations that have been underway, relieving China, South Korea, Japan and Russia of responsibility for pressuring Pyongyang and leaving the United States to make a deal alone. Lacking the tools of China -- which controls North Korea's energy supplies and could cause its regime to collapse simply by loosening border controls -- the United States would once again face the choice of offering distasteful bribes to a murderous dictatorship or threatening an almost unthinkable war. Mr. Bush doesn't have a good record on North Korea, but he has mapped a possible way out of this difficult bind -- assuming, that is, that a diplomatic solution is possible. Apart from purely partisan motivations, Mr. Kerry's rejection of it makes little sense.

Response to the Rueters Article

2004-11-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

I think that this article said that talks were beginning again after the US election had been finalized and the East Asian countries would know the general direction of the US talks. This article showed nothing bad or good was in the future. It seemed like the article was saying that nothing was happening. It does look very similar to the Iraq situation. We threatened many times for them to disarm, but the North Koreans are very stubborn. This cannot be resolved in the same manor as Iraq because China is no pushover. The North Koreans were likely hoping for Kerry's election as his talks with them would be meaningless. Bush kept the momentum going in the talks as he put the plans back into action by both the US and South Korean policies implemented on the North Koreans plans for disarming and losing their nuclear power. The whole situation seems to be very slow as the United States concentrates its interest in resolving the Iraqi conflict before it gets too deep into the North Korean situation. The North Korean news will be front page once the press becomes bored with Iraq. The talks were positive as the South Koreans, Colin Powell, and the North Koreans proposed their plans and were making progress to their goals in the situation. The longer this process is dragged out the more North Korea benefits from the time. With more time, they are better able to develop their nuclear technology and are able to discover better methods of hiding their weapons as well.

North Korea Resolution

2004-11-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=6877000

It seems as though there is a possibility that their might be a resolution in store for North Korea. After top officials from all over including President Bush meet in seems like they have a better grasp on what they are planning to do to resolve their problem with North Koreas nuclear missiles. The meeting gave them the chance to jump start there planning and hopefully this diplomatic effort will make a favorable situation that North Korea will agree with. It seems like this opportunity is the best one that North Korea has and hopefully they will take full advantage of. All that needs to be done is for the top officials from all other to continue their talks and keep all of this momentum going. President Bush and the South Korean President have also had many talks and these two allies are forming a common opinion on the problem in North Korea. Both agree that this is a high priority issue and they need to keep up the pace. Although Bush has been criticized for naming North Korea as an “axis of evil” he has been planning on was to resolve the issue. With his last months in office Colin Powell has even taken the time to cite three proposals that are all flexible and realistic. Hopefully with all the new negotiating going one their will be a peaceful resolution sometime in the neat future.

Reponse to article

2004-11-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

North Korea as we know is already a big nuclear threat because of the amount of weapons they currently possess. The United States knows they are a threat but I think that this issue needs to really be addressed because it is getting to be very severe. North Korea already stated that they in fact are planning to strengthen their “nuclear deterrent” because they feel as though the United States are planning an act on their state. Although we know America does not have such malicious intention, it seems as though the Korean government believes that instead of trying to peacefully resolve this problem the Americans they stooped to preparing a surprise attack upon their nation. It is already very clear that no matter which way the United States plans to deal with this growing problem, North Korea will just continue to strengthen their nuclear weapons and build them up as a huge threat to the United States. It seems as though there is only one resolution possible which sounds much easier than it actually is and that is if the Unites States aggress to guarantee a nonaggression pact, economic aid, and that they will no longer interfere with their communist form of life then and only then will North Korea agree to give up their nuclear weapons program. It looks as though a resolution for our country and North Korea may be far away but we just need to keep faith that in the end this problem will no longer exist.

Blog #5 & Article Link - Dan Grigoras

2004-11-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3763587

The North Korea situation isn’t a discomfort just for the United States. The article “North Korea Threatens to Increase Nuclear Deterrent” presents how the current nuclear threats presented by North Korea are feared all around the globe, including the great people of Scotland. According to the Scotsman.com website, “North Korea has 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods which could yield enough plutonium for several bombs, when reprocessed with chemicals. North Korean diplomats have recently claimed the country had “weaponised” the material” and goes on to mention that South Korea believes their Northern counterpart has enough plutonium for two or three bombs of mass destruction. If this information is just partially accurate it denotes reasonable suspicion for further investigating North Korea and attempting peaceful negotiations. North Korea said there is a possibility for peace without war if the Untied States abandoned its goal of “toppling the communist regime.” This seems like a pretty decent proposal from North Korea to the United States. In the beginning, the United States was the first to break the contract between the two countries that prevented dispute. Now North Korea is willing to give up its nuclear weapons and facilities if the United States provides some type of guarantee they supply North Korea with economic aid, and stop involving themselves with human rights in their regime, which was the original agreement between the two countries. It’s interesting to witness what another country has to say about the United States and our approach on the nuclear situation in North Korea. Perhaps taking into account the good of the rest of the world before making any major decisions to move into North Korea would be a good attitude to tackle the nuclear problem.

response to article

2004-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

this article dealt with an american who escaped from vietnam to north korea during the war. in the last 39 years, he has spent his time teaching english to military officers and appearing in propaganda films. jenkins is telling the US government that he has inside knowledge into how the north korean government uses foreign aid to spy for them. there are other americans who also might have defected to north korea during the time of vietnam, and all parties had been allowed to marry european women who were being held in north korea. interestingly enough, Jenkin's wife is japanese, and she was brought to north korea during the 70's or 80's, a time when north korea was "snatching" random citizens from japan. jenkins is cooperating with our government to work through this cause, and i think this article is just another perfect example of north korea and it's weird ways. the fact that north korea spent two decades stealing people from other countries with no cause just creeps me out. i think this article just goes to show north korea and how its starving for power.

Response to the Washignton Times Article

2004-11-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

The article revealed how little we do know about North Korea. The fact that we must use American deserters to know stuff about North Koreas shows how little our intelligence of the North Koreans is. The deserter revealed North Koreas guerilla tactics of abducting Americans and using them to train spies to combat American interest in South Korea and Asia. The deserter seems like he will have many chances to escape the punishment that he deserves by revealing North Korean secrets that he has obtained over the last 40 years that he has lived their. This will be beneficial to American intelligence, but will allow an American that has turned his back on our country to go without punishment. He has contributed to North Koreans and will be given credit by our government by his discoveries. The North Koreans are evil and it is more obvious after this article as it shows that they are willing to take ‘hostage’ citizens of other countries with the governmental approval. This is very disturbing as it shows that North Korea is only interested in the success of its communist nation and not humanity and world interest. The Koreans are going to be the new cold war, unless the Chinese will abandon their alliance with the North Koreans and their communist ideals.

Blog #4 - Dan Grigoras

2004-11-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Kirk’s article, “Deserter lifts veil on closed regime” talks about Charles Robert Jenkins who was reportedly arrested for sneaking into North Korea nearly 40 years ago. Although the reason why he felt it a good idea to flee to North Korea in an effort to flee the war is amazing enough, his presence in North Korea is quite more interesting. While in North Korea, Jenkins opened admitted to teaching North Korean officers and officials English and appearing in North Korean propaganda films. To avoid being court marshaled, Jenkins was "absolutely willing to confirm a suspicion long held by U.S. intelligence agencies that a number of Americans were used, most often unwillingly, by North Korea to arm spies with English-speaking skills so they could target American interests in South Korea and beyond." But according to the article, military officials refused the offer and went ahead with the court marshal. The idea that North Korea is bargaining with these runaways and dodgers in an effort to advance their military adeptness is very ironic. And the fact they stayed in North Korea to marry Japanese prisoners and live a better life than the US is astonishing. With current political relations with North Korea, they really picked a bad time to leave the country and flee back to the United States.

N. Korea article

2004-11-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

The article that I had found discusses a guy that had fled to North Korea to avoid military service in Vietnam. While he was there he taught officers English and appeared in propaganda. He also admitted that there were other Americans over there doing the same. The teach the North Korean spies English and they in turn use that to target American interests in South Korea and other places as well. For me there is a good side to this story as well as a bad one. The good part being that hopefully our intelligence officials will get a lot of information out of him that will be beneficial and something we can use against North Korea to take power away from them. The bad part is hearing what is going on over there and that our own people, Americans, are helping out a Nation to gain absolute power. That power which seems to be in terms of destruction, which is not good at all. I just was surprised that this was going on, almost seems treasonous to be helping out another country that does not need any power at all with the nuclear capabilities they have and the leader they have in charge there. I found this article very interesting for the issue at stake and what benefits can come out of this. Ultimately anything helps and over the next few years that power will be taken out of the hands of North Korea. Along with power of other nations that possess the same threat that North Korea does.

Interesting article: N. Korea, address inside

2004-11-12T11:16:00.001-08:00

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20041109-110229-5423r.htm

In response to Joes article on Arafat

2004-11-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

North Korea decided to stop things for a day and have an official day of mourning after the passing of their close friend, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. They stated that he was a very close friend of the Koreans therefore it was their choice to declare these days an official day of mourning after this lose. They flew their communist flags at half-mast for 3 days. This however might seem a little unusual to some considering the fact that the two did not exactly seem like they were close friends at all. Yasser Arafat had only made six visits to North Korea in a period of over twelve years. However, North Korea did award him the title of “Hero” after having made only one visit to t North Korea. There were condolences sent to Palestine from the North Korean leaders after this lose, sending the Palestine’s their last respects. In his life, Yasser Arafat did accomplish a lot and was an important figure to the people of Palestine. What effect exactly he had on North Korea, that I do not know. But what is known is that North Korea was saddened by this lose and they obviously had a close connection and his presence and himself will be deeply missed.

Arafat mourned in North Korea

2004-11-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041111/wl_asia_afp/mideast_arafat_nkorea_041111183805

The support for terrorist such as Yassir Arafat just go to show that North Korea is not interested in giving up its power. If North Korea respects a man who is a known killer and terrorist suh as Arafat then North Korea is in serious trouble. The communist over have too much power and are brainwashing their citizens and insulting the United States. Arafat's Gorilla tactics were praised by Kim saying "made a distinguished contribution to the noble cause of establishing an independent state of Palestine and winning back the legitimate right of the Palestinian people." Calling Arafat a nobel man is something to be ashamed of. North Korea will hopefully settle any disputes peacefully, rather than creating wide spread terror. THe Korean's and Chinese governments are in agreance that they are anti-American in seeminly ever policy. It will be very tough to persuade North Korea into disarnment agreements when they are so against our government and their support for terrorist.

response to joes article

2004-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

this article explained a lot about north korea and their thoughts on the united states. president bush has been very stern with north korea when it comes to dealing with their nuclear power, and since north korea has yet to comment on president bush's reelection, i dont think they are too pleased with it. they would have liked to see kerry in office, becuase kerry wasn't planning on having the six nation talks, as president bush does. president bush thinks its necessary to put pressure on north korea, and i think thats a good idea as long as they dont feel too threatened over time. i think all the countries involved in this issue want it resolved before something drastic is done, and i think these peace talks are a great way to make that happen, so hopefully those six countries will be able to meet before too long. north korea has a very tough regime in power right now, and as stubborn as they are, they will hopefully be able to be talked down from their threats of nuclear war.

New Article

2004-11-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry about this post being so late, I had a long day yesterday...But anyway this article < http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1099748155644_215?hub=World> This post was about the reelection of Bush and the consiquences it had on the re3lationship between the Korea's and the United States. The reelection of President Bush is not what the Communist North Koreans wanted. The United States over the last 4 years has put enormous pressure on the North Koreans to remove their nuclear powers, and has already started to resume the pressure on them with a coalition of nations to dsiscourage the North Koreans. It seems very hard to disarm the stuburn people of North Korea, but hopefully it will be resolved before any conflicts are ne3cessary to resolve the situation. The South Koreans had called the President after his reelection, and it seems they are very nervous about the situation. They seem very glad that the President was reelected, as Kerry had promised only talks to be between China, the US, and North Korea. The Soth Koreans want this problem resolved before North korea develops or launches a nuclear warhead.

response to Dan's article

2004-11-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

in reading this article, i stopped and thought about my thoughts on terrorism pre-9/11. i realized i didn't have any thoughts on the subject. i've grown up in an age where america was led to believe it was invincible, and all other countries were intimidated by our power. i remember sitting in drivers ed my sophmore year of high school on september 11, and watching the second plane fly into the world trade center, thinking this was some huge accident. the thought of terrorism did not even cross my mind until it was told to me, and even then, i wondered how it could possibly be true: what country would mess with the united states of america? with north korea having been suspected with nuclear weapons, and iran not far behind, our country has a lot of work to do, and before long will likely be in a state of war. its crazy to think that children might grow up in this country and not think we are as invincible as my generation did. it will be interesting to see what president bush does with these impending matters, and if he takes us to war or not. whatever his decision, it will not be an easy battle to win. he will recieve plenty of dissatisfied people if he goes to war, yet will be looked upon as weak if he accepts the nuclear weapons, and trusts in the thought we will be safe.

Resonse to Nicole's Blob and article

2004-11-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

In response to the article and Nicole's blog, I agree with what both of them are saying. For me I do think terrorism was not as big of a deal before September 11th in comparison to what it is now. Or maybe it was a big issue just not at the top of the list as it is now. My concerns are with North Korea with the potential of them having nuclear weapons and their power to do what they want with them. And as the article discussed it is an issue that this issue needs to be top priority and one that needs to be dealt appropriately by President Bush. I am confident that it will and the right leadership is in charge of this Nation to handle this properly. But along with North Korea I think that others need to be considered in regards to nuclear power as well. Iran another big country that has potential and growth in their nuclear capabilities, needs not to be neglected. It is an easy that needs to be looked at with highest regard and dealt with force and needs to not be such a threat to this Nation and in this world. I hope that my concerns with this issue are just as big as everyone else’s. Over these next few years Foreign Policy with these countries or people will be very important in halting nuclear proliferation and the dethroning those with this power.

North Korea Foreign Policy

2004-11-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

In response to The Seattle Times article:

The idea of a terrorism attack is not something that happened after September 11, it has been an ongoing threat to the United States but Presidents and leaders of the past chose not to discuss it. Before September there were other bombings and other terrorism threats but it did not become important to the American people until it affected our neighbors, friends, and family. Only then did we really begin to care. I think everyone still knows how that felt on that day and what we need to be focusing on now is what we can do to prevent something of the same or greater magnitude from ever happening again. There is definitely problem brewing on the horizon and after the President gets reaugurated there will be even more trouble. At the top of his concerns should be the growing problem and serious threat that is, North Korea. This threat is much more severe than we may think and it is more that should garner more attention and be taken with the upmost caution and concern.
The possibility of a possible military confortation or the acknowledgement that North Korea could possibly be becoming a nuclear- armed country and all important issue we need to face and that hopefully the President will deal with to his best ability. We need to halt to possibility of any nuclear threat and stop this country from possibly becoming a bigger threat and stop them from producing anymore nuclear weapons.

Blog #3 & Article - Dan Grigoras

2004-11-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002081387_hamilton04.html

In the article above, Lee points out how often the topic of terrorism was brought up in 2000 election. According to his statement, the topic was mentioned once in the campaign and never in any debate, and then after 9/11 terrorism was at the top of his list. On this list, Lee suggests the most important area to look into is North Korea and Iran. Lee states, “These hostile countries were addressed in the first debate, but the severity of the threat has not been fully acknowledged. North Korea likely has nuclear weapons; Iran is making progress with its nuclear program.” He goes on to say that the only resolutions the president has in the next four years is either to go to war with another country, accept their nuclear power, or find another peaceful way to deal with the matter. Creating another war would be near political suicide for el Presidentè. Recently however, Bush requested another 70 billion dollars to fund the war. Who knows what else he might have in mind? In the article Lee claims, “An armed confrontation with North Korea or Iran could push terrorism off the front burner of American foreign policy” arguing a war with North Korea and Iran would completely disregard what foreign policy is created to maintain; a peaceful nation. Bush doesn’t have too many options though for North Korea. Kim Jong-Il doesn’t seem like the type of tyrannical ruler who will just give up his nuclear facilities to the United States. Hopefully the President will make the best decision for the people and try to negotiate something with North Korea.

New York Times article

2004-11-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

I found this article pretty interesting in the way the United States has finally started dealing with the North Korea issue. I like to see action being taken to stop the massive amount of illegal activities, such as drug and weapon trading, which are used to financially support their building of nuclear weapons. Our current president has done a great deal in the way of progress against nuclear weapons, and he has put a lot of emphasis on this war in his campaign for re-election. This excersize drill that was performed off the coast of Japan really helps show North Korea that America, and the rest of the world, seriously means business. I think it's interesting to watch the situation with Japan and North Korea, two countries at opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, and how Japan's anger toward North Korea has caused North Korea's trade with Japan to be dramatically cut in the past year. I think as long as more and more countries are joining these peace talks with North Korea to try to pull them out of the communist state they are in, the better relations will become between North Korea and the rest of the world.

Blog #2 - Dan Grigoras

2004-10-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

James Brooke’s article “U.S.-Led Naval Exercise Sends Clear Message to North Korea” shows that the US is finally starting to make a stand on the North Korea situation. Recently, the United States military demonstrated an “international naval interdiction drill” for North Korea. The message was a clear indication that the United States and other ally countries have “zero tolerance” for any countries that want to manufacture, harbor, and sell weapons of mass destruction. The fact that the United States is beginning to lose its patience, and is starting to make informally targeted threats at North Korea is a serious and alarming issue. For more than a year now, the United States has preoccupied itself with Operation Iraqi Freedom. Should North Korea not coincide peacefully, as previously dictated by the country, the United States could inadvertently become involved in another operation. And now with the Iraqi situation almost coming to a close, the American people are awaiting an era of peaceful standings. However, because there a few alternatives to the issue, the United States should also be amended for stepping up to North Korea and expressing their intolerance for the nuclear situation. The treats being made my North Korea are serious, dangerous, and show their unreliability for harboring weapons for any sort. The United States has taken a stand to disarm North Korea, and prevent a bloodbath that would destroy civilization. It is very unfortunate that both countries and sit down and reside their issues by alternate means. Both sides have lost so many lives because of the matter.

article

2004-10-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=f2f997dabfa1d7bfd11042754de099e0&_docnum=8&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkVA&_md5=b03868306eb2d5a83913b1446cf3483b

Response to the NY times article

2004-10-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

In response to the article concerning the U.S. sending a message to North Korea through one of their exercises, it is good to see that we are doing something about this matter. For them to show no tolerance to those transporting powerful weapons impressed me to hear of something that is being done and that hopefully is sending clear messages to North Korea as well. I like to see our forces taking a hard-nosed approach to a topic that has such extreme importance. North Korea should not be overlooked or taken lightly, they have extreme power and they need to have that taken away from them. It will not be easy but if these measures are kept up I believe that power will slowly weaken as time goes on. It seems as if the U.S. is taken the right steps in trying to resolve this issue. They have allies in Japan and other surrounding countries that would help in the six nation talks they would like to conduct with North Korea. It was just an interesting article that portrayed, even though not said, North Korea’s power. Along with this our special attention to what they are doing in terms of their weapons. Once again this is an area that I believe Bush excels in, his plan for foreign policy and our security is great. He has the individuals surrounding him to make him succeed in this category along with doing everything he can to get all of this resolved. Anyways, North Korea is a very interesting topic that does not need to be talked about lightly or taken for granted in terms of what we do to make them powerless.

New article

2004-10-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

Someone needs to show me hot to just link the site but here is the address and I just figured you guys could copy and paste it in your address bar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/international/asia/27bolton.html?oref=login

North Korean Dispute

2004-10-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=a7c8af14f79e0cf067bc8ac9bd295181&_docnum=34&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkVb&_md5=af2c0ee28858f340d26dc3c2d11b0b28

Kerry Claims Bush Ignored North Korean Threat:
During the campaign trial Kerry has begun an all out dispute on the way Bush has dealt with the North Korean crisis during his span is office. Kerry biggest point is that Bush just decided to ignore the North Korean threat and in doing so he has allowed North Korea to nor only become a bigger threat but even more harshly he was quoted saying that Bush allowed North Korea to become, "a nuclear nightmare." Then, to make matters even worst one week ago on Thursday there was a large fire on the North Korean and Chinese border. Many people including Kerry began to link this to North Koreas possible usage of nuclear weapons. Kerry also pointed that instead of addressing this problem Bush deverted the action from North Korea to the search for Suddan Hussein and the problems in Iraq. Senator Kerry was quoted saying, "They have taken their eye off the real ball."
Although I am not very aware of the problems happening right now in North Korea, I am aware that they are quite severe. Anything that deals with nuclear weapons is severe and should not be taken lightly. This is not saying that Bush dogged the problem but what I am saying is that maybe something else could have been done to prevent it. These problems are the types of problems where a resolution needs to take place and it needs to take place as soon as the problem is addressed. I feel as though more could have possibly been done over the last four years to prevent North Korea from growing into just a huge threat. I do not want to lay the blame on any one party or leader because I do not know all the facts behind it, I just know that the only way these problems get solved is if immediate action is taken.

Nukes

2004-10-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

The problem facing the US is that every country seems it is out to get us. We have many enemies that our jealous of our freedoms and wealth. Kerry's plan in North Korea and other such nuclear powers is to talk to them. Without any threat of using force, countries will ignore our talks. No country will just give up their nuclear power. Kerry seems to think that the more money we put in programs the better they do there jobs. That is not the case at all; programs need to be managed correctly and with the right intent. Funding programs that have accomplished nothing is just wasting American money and giving more power to those countries. If we let terrorist have access to these weapon then we will be in serious trouble. Without the threat of military actions, we have no way of enforcing our policies. I really do not know what I am talking about yet, because I have not been keeping up with the situation. Every time I read about situations like these and it scares me, that nothing is being done. I wish people went so interested in destroying things, and killing people, but we have a problem. Something has to be done, and Bush ha the experienced deal with these things, and the knowledge to handle these problems. His presidency was filled with many horrifying situations and he has done an excellent job. Keeping the American economy strong and prevent terrorism since 9/11.

response to Dan's article

2004-10-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

I think this situation needs much more attention than we are giving to it, in reading this article i realized how far out of control the issue of nuclear weapons has gone. to think it could be so easy to come accross nuclear weapons in countries such as russia scares me as to who could gain control to these warheads. although not as bad as russia, north korea has been working on nuclear weapons, and i think its aweful our country has not done something to stop this act much earlier. countries in such distate as north korea should by no means contain something that dangerous. even if north korea is not likely to use or give away its nuclear weapons for terrorism purposes, a country like that does not need to be housing these weapons for any reason whatsoever. i think whichever candidate wins in november, at the top of their priority list should be finding the money to put into stopping the making of such disastrous nuclear objects. the fact that cheney thinks a terrorist strike on a u.s. city is probable sometime in the future goes to show that we need to take whatever actions possible to eliminate that risk. since 9/11 this country has lived as its never lived before- always having the threat of freedom in the back of their mind. the u.s. has never been treated as it was when it was attacked, and we need to gain back the control we had over these countries and their weapons so people can go on not living scared.

Blog in response to Dan's article

2004-10-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

It is kind of scary the occurrence of nuclear weapons in the world and how it is such a big topic. My problem in general with it is how it seems so easy fro certain countries to acquire such weapons and become a threat with them. It seems like wherever we focus our attention to, someone else is going behind our backs and obtaining these weapons. I just would like to see become less of an issue in terms of these weapons being threats, but more of an issue in terms of keeping them away from others and not having them pose such a threat. It was good to see in this article that according to analysts North Korea is not an interest to terrorists for buying these nuclear weapons. Not to say that North Korea is not a threat and ruling out that they will not use them, but as far as we know not producing them and then turning around and selling them as well. Whoever is elected in this upcoming election I would like to see them resolve this problem and for it to be such a big problem. From my point of view I have got to believe Bush has a good handle on this situation in North Korea and what will and will not work because he has been in this a while and hopefully is seeing more intelligence about this than anyone else. That is just from my perspective though, but either way and I know I a lot of people would probably agree with me is that I would like to see all of the plutonium/uranium secure and out of harms way. But it will be interesting to follow not only the situation in North Korea, but the issue of nuclear weapons and its involvement in our world as well.

Blog #1 & Article - Dan Grigoras

2004-10-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Proliferation-Politics.html

A lot of Americans are concerned with the current situation in North Korea. Many of these people fear it, but don’t completely understand what’s going on in the country. On October 20th, the Associated Press released an article regarding the candidates’ view on the North Korea situation and how they plan to ameliorate the situation. The article does a pretty good of explaining the situation and the plan of action of each candidate. A while back the United States and Korea had an agreement. North Korea promised to stop manufacturing and selling nuclear paraphernalia if the US would help them get out of their depressing social and financial situation by supplying them with shipments of food, money, etc. During the 90s the US stopped sending the supplies. North Korea was furious at the US for breaking the agreement and retaliated by restarting the production of nuclear weapons. The article points out that both candidates are for focusing on correcting the situation, but their means vary greatly. Kerry argues that the US has involved itself too much with the Iraq dilemma which allowed North Korea to develop a handful of nuclear warheads for the Iran government. Bush argues North Korea isn’t as big a threat as Middle East since weapons inspectors haven’t found anything there.

China's Vague Claims Regarding North Korea

2004-10-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041019-054333-1307r.htm

China’s Vague Claims about aiding North Korea:

Lately many people have been questioning the possible aid that China will be giving to North Korea. China has not offered many answers either instead they have made very vague claims and have not helped to clear up questions about their plans with North Korea. When questioned by the press, China's Foreign Ministry gave very obscure answers in Beijing China last Tuesday when they were asked about the kind help that Chinas might give to the current regime which is ruling North Korea. China legislature did however say to ,Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's No. 2 leader, that China was planning on helping aid the Peoples Republic of North Korea. China however did not offer information as to the kind of support and aid they were planning on giving. When questioned as to whether it would consist of food, finance, or other means. China simply said that they would provide the best assistance they could. Currently the whole situation in North Korea is one that is very new to me, but one that I find very interesting. I think learning about how other countries deal with problems gives us a better since of who they are and in a way shows that even though we are far away from them we are all very similar in our demeanor and how we both deal with difficult situations.