No Nuclear Deal with North Korea

After five days of discussions between the US and North Korea there is still no deal on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. North Koreans would not talk about the program at all, wanting only to remove US sanctions on the country. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who represented the US in talks, said that North Korean negotiators appeared unauthorized to even speak about nuclear weapons.

I do not think this is a good strategy for North Korea. They are struggling economically and do not have a lot of political allies, although I suppose China is enough for now. The US is already frustrated with North Korea, and this latest refusal to discuss the nuclear weapons program amounts to a huge waste of time. It looks like the US will try again in "weeks, not months," according to Hill, but after another round of impasse, they may just say forget it.

An article by the BBC alludes to some of the frustrations the US, and other nations for that matter, are feeling about this latest failure. The pressure will continue to mount and I think North Korea will have no choice but to give in. Then again, Kim Jong-il has shown repeatedly that he is not very concerned with the suffering of his own people. The world will have to find a way to hurt him directly or nothing will change.