Home > Opinion > Letters

[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]What will the North say?

Published: 26 Aug. 2005, 22:29

Whatever will they say? President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has confirmed that the country’s disgraced nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, provided North Korea with centrifuges for uranium enrichment. This revelation comes at a time when North Korea is about to return to the six-party talks. It has admitted to a plutonium bomb program, but denied an enriched uranium program. This admission by the Pakistani president removes another of the many curtains and smokescreens behind which North Korea continually tries to hide. What North Korea admits will make or break the talks.
Whatever is said, it will put the North in a difficult position. This point will come up and the North will have to give an acceptable answer. The answer it will want to give is to stick to the lie and deny the reports, but the United States surely will not accept this. There is no doubt that this action would lead to a breakdown of the talks. The South would have a very difficult decision as to what to do next. If the North admits to the program, it would be a massive loss of face, and would prove to the world that it was deceiving them all this time. This admission would be a very bitter pill to swallow. If they do make the admission, it would signal another change in the North, and perhaps indicate it is willing to take the steps needed to finally bring peace to this part of the world.

by William P. Welsh, Jr.