LONDON -- I am rapidly approaching the age of retirement. I am already cutting back on my activities, slimming down my portfolio of work and deciding what activities are wastes of time.
One activity that is a definite waste of time is going to high-level conferences on the security situation in Northeast Asia when officials from both the United States and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) are present. For two years now the two sides have been mouthing the same mantras like kids in a school playground -- "You've got WMD (weapons of mass destruction), no we haven't, na na ne na na."
I was at such a conference recently. I had to leave early for family reasons, but I was thinking of leaving anyway out of boredom. For two years now the Bush administration has been claiming that the DPRK has a uranium-enrichment program capable of supporting the development of nuclear weapons. The claim is based on what Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly says he was told when he visited Pyongyang in October 2002.