North Korea, angered by a United Nations rebuke of its recent missile launching, declared on Tuesday that it would permanently pull out of nuclear disarmament talks and restart its nuclear program. It also expelled United Nations inspectors from the country.
"The U.N. resolution is everything N. Korea wants: a toothless declaration that also hands them a propaganda victory."Kenneth, New York
The moves, which came hours after the United Nations Security Council chastised North Korea for violating a United Nations resolution, pose a nettlesome foreign policy test for the Obama administration.
Political analysts said they did not expect North Korea’s latest actions to immediately heighten the nuclear danger the country posed because it had dismantled parts of its nuclear plant at Yongbyon. North Korea has taken a hard line before, only to soften its stance once it got concessions or made a political point.
Still, the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said North Korea’s threat to abandon multiparty talks and reactivate its Yongbyon nuclear reactor represented a “serious step in the wrong direction.” He urged the North Korean government to return to the bargaining table. Read more.