AFP. 17 November 2002. Linguistic debate and confusion over North Korea nuke "admission."
SEOUL -- South Korean officials and linguistic experts were unsure Monday whether North Korea had admitted for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons. Until now North Korea has never openly admitted to having a nuclear weapons programme, although the United States suspects the regime has one or more atomic bombs. Late Sunday, Radio Pyongang appeared to break with the past in a commentary attacking the United States. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which monitored the broadcast, the radio said that the North, "has come to own strong military countermeasures including nuclear weapons to protect our sovereignty and right to existence in the face of growing US nuclear threats." However the news agency added that the Korean term "has come to own" has been used in the past by North Korea in statements on nuclear weapons and has been translated by the "official" North Korean Central News Agency as "entitled" to have, rather than possessing nuclear weapons. Yonhap said it was unsure if the statement was an admission or not, and experts said it was unlikely North Korea would choose Pyongyang radio as the forum for such a radical step. Meanwhile linguists were looking at North Korea's choice of words. "Our conclusion is that this gives a certain indication but is linguistically ambiguous, so we can't say beyond a shadow of doubt what North Korea is saying here," said Choi Jae-Hee, a Korean language researcher at the Seoul's National Academy of Korean Language. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international -- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
