6-Party Nuke Talks Open in Beijing

"If they want a future with us, if they want to work with us, if they want to be a member of the international community, they're going to have to get out of this nuclear business," U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said on Sunday.

Ugh, this drives me crazy. I know there are people at State that understand Juche and the North Korean world outlook, so where does this ignorant BS Hill is uttering come from?

Isolation from the world community, in Pyongyang terminology, “self-reliance,” is a goal to be obtained, not a threat to be worried about. If you want to get the North’s attention, and really get them worried and ready to deal, you threaten them with MORE foreign interaction, not less. You threaten radio broadcasts, leaflet drops, satellite phones, defector education and re-training camps along their border, THEN you’ll get the North’s attention. Threatening the North with isolation is like threatening the Middle East with oil, or the French with wine – they have it already, they like it, and they really wouldn’t mind more.

There is a HUGE disconnect somewhere along the line from the people at the State Department who actually know something about the North, up to Hill and the others doing the talking and forming the U.S. negotiating positions. No wonder the North keeps doing whatever it wants – the people running the show on the U.S. side can’t tell a carrot from a damn stick.