BEIJING CHINA: The chief nuclear negotiator for the United Nations, Mohamed ElBaradie says North Korea will "definitely keep its promise" to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear reactor this time. The communist dictatorship made the promise on the condition that the United States follow through with a February 13 agreement reached at the six-party talks amongst several nations.
ElBaradie, after returning from a visit to Pyongyang, said North Korean nuclear experts understand that their word in the past has been useless, but this time they are not lying and "we really, really mean it."
"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea promises to shut down the Yongbyon reactor over the next month if the United States lifts financial sanctions," said a North Korean official spokesman. "Just because we are a dictatorship that has killed millions of our own people through starvation and draconian abuses of human rights doesn't mean we aren't people. You may hate the way we degrade human life but why should we be treated like this makes us bad?"
The US imposed sanctions last year when it became clear North Korean officials used a bank in Macau, a Chinese territory, to purchase weapons, distribute counterfeit currency and conduct money laundering operations.
