Friends

North Korean officials now says that they just want to be friends with the U.S.:

North Korea said Wednesday it would not need nuclear weapons if the United States treated it like a friend, as the isolated nation joined South Korea for high-level reconciliation talks.

..."If the United States treats the North in a friendly manner, we will possess not one nuclear weapon," the North Korean delegation said, according to Kim Chun-shick, spokesman for the South Koreans.

Hmmm. Let's revisit some North Korean statements from the not-too-distant past:

"It is the greatest tragedy for the U.S. that Bush, a political idiot and human trash, still remains in the presidential office of the world's only superpower, styling himself an emperor of the world." -- Aug. 2004

:

North Korea said Thursday that the remarks by Cheney, "boss of the hawkish hard-liners, revealed the true colors of this group steering the implementation of the policy of the Bush administration."

The North also leveled a bitter personal attack on Cheney, saying he was "hated as the most cruel monster and bloodthirsty beast as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood." -- June 2005

Color me unconvinced. I think we should start acting friendlier towards Pyongyang when they start treating their own people better.