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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: North Korea backs away from nukilar deal North Korea backs away from nuclear deal By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it did not wish to be taken off a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a reward it would be given if it abided by a disarmament deal, indicating it was stepping away from the pact. The North also said it had begun work to restore its Soviet-era nuclear Yongbyon plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium which was being taken apart under a disarmament-for-aid deal it reached with five regional powers, including the United States. "The DPRK (North Korea) neither wishes to be delisted as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' nor expects such a thing to happen," the North's official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. Analysts have said the North might be trying to pressure the outgoing Bush administration as it looks for diplomatic successes to bolster its legacy. The North might also be thinking it can wait for a new U.S. president to try to get a better deal. Last month, North Korea said it planned to restart Yongbyon because it was angry at Washington for not taking it off a terrorism blacklist. In early September, it made minor but initial moves to restart the plant, U.S. officials said. Washington has said it will remove Pyongyang from the list once the state allows inspectors to verify claims it made about its nuclear arms production. Once removed, the North can better tap into international finance and expand its meager trade. The disablement steps -- mostly completed -- were aimed at putting Yongbyon out of the plutonium production business for at least a year. North Korea, which exploded a nuclear device about two years ago, began to disable Yongbyon in early November as called for in the deal it struck with China, the United States, Japan, Russia and South Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in early September that North Korean informed regional powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had started work to restore its ageing nuclear plant. On Friday, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by its KCNA news agency: "... work has been under way to restore its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon to their original state". Proliferation experts have said that trade sanctions placed on North Korea make it difficult for it to acquire the parts it needs to restart Yongbyon, where some of the facilities might be beyond repair because of their age. Friday's announcement came after U.S. and South Korean officials said last week that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may have suffered a stroke, which raised questions about succession in Asia's only communist dynasty and who controls its nuclear arsenal. A finger-wagging North Korean nuclear negotiator dismissed as malicious gossip the reports about Kim. "It is sophism by bad people who wish ill for our country," North Korean Foreign Ministry official Hyon Hak-bong said ahead of talks with South Koreans at the Panmunjom truce village that straddles the border, according to a pool report. (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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OMG!!! It's like Sarah wrote the headline. Anyways, this is W's making but Sarah could fix everything because she is 'SO READY'. Yes, she is.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
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