And then there were three

North Korean negotiators told U.S. officials in Beijing that the communist nation has nuclear weapons and threatened to export them or conduct a "physical demonstration," U.S. officials said today.
The Washington Post, April 24, 2003

Just saw this. Not sure what to make of it. I'm wondering if it is just typical high-toned rhetoric, or a genuine threat to pop off a nuke in the Sea of Japan. One thing we have seen from this, is that they have not backed down at all. The current talks are not multilateral, they are bilateral with the Chinese providing hosting and a fig leaf so the Bush administration can say the talks were multilateral including regional stakeholders.

They could be lying about nuclear weapons, to try to avoid the preemptive strike against them. I don't think we want to take that chance, and I am sure it isn't necessary. We have to keep the lines of communication open. Drop the hostile rhetoric, and make sure humanitarian relief can get through. That will do us much more good, in the short and long term.