North Korea Agrees to De-nuclearization Deal (Again)

I’ve lost track of exactly how many times North Korea has announced that it has agreed to dismantle its nuclear program, but here we go again.

North Korea agrees to disable all existing nuclear facilities” …including . . .”[t]he disablement of the 5 megawatt Experimental Reactor at Yongbyon, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) at Yongbyon and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility at Yongbyon will be completed by 31 December 2007.”

The U.S. will “begin the process of removing the designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism and advance the process of terminating the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to the DPRK.”

Japan agrees to “make sincere efforts to normalize their relations expeditiously…”

I don’t know if there is any reason to take this agreement any more seriously than the Sept. 2005 and Feb. 2007 agreements that preceded this one. Interestingly, I believe (although I’m not sure) that the President has the statutory authority to take North Korea off the state sponsor list and most TWEA sanctions, but I’m not sure. I’m sure Congress will have something say about this, though.