As 2005 came to an end, vitriol had replaced negotiation in efforts to hold the North Korean government to its September nuclear disarmament agreement. Recent name-calling reflects historic jockeying by both sides. But beyond the rhetoric there remains a deeper reality. For Kim Jong Il, nuclear weapons and regime survival are synonymous.
As I've long asserted, our talks are useful only as a means to boil the frog slowly. String out the talks with the Pillsbury Nuke Boy long enough while squeezing North Korea, and they will hardly notice their growing collapse as they hope to blackmail us into saving them.
So don't despair that North Korea will not negotiate an end to their nuclear program. You should have known that long ago. We talk so they wild die--not to save them.
