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chatterbox: Gossip, speculation, and scuttlebutt about politics.

Whopper of the Week: North KoreaIt violated an arms agreement "more than 100."

By Timothy Noah
Posted Friday, Oct. 18, 2002, at 12:39 PM ET

"If the United States hopes for maintaining the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]-U.S. agreed framework (AF) and improving the relations with the DPRK, it should drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK as required by the AF and show in practice its will to make compensation for the huge loss of electricity caused by the delayed provision of light water reactors (LWRs). [North Korea's official newspaper] Rodong Sinmun Tuesday says this in a signed commentary as regards the assertion made by the U.S. administration on August 7, when the ground concrete tamping for the light water reactor started. It blustered that the DPRK should accept the IAEA's nuclear inspection and if not, it would not provide the LWRs.

"Saying that the core point of the 1994 AF is the U.S. provision of LWRs to the DPRK by 2003 in return for the latter's freezing of its nuclear facilities, the commentary continues:

"The DPRK has fulfilled all its commitments under the AF more than 100. [Italics Chatterbox's.] But the U.S. did nothing but starting ground concrete tamping belatedly. It is, therefore, a height of folly for the U.S. it to talk about a nuclear inspection under this situation."

—"U.S. Urged To Honor Its Commitment Under AF," Sept. 3, North Korean Central News Agency.

"The North Korean government has acknowledged for the first time that it has been secretly developing nuclear weapons for years in violation of international agreements—and that it possesses "more powerful" weapons, as well—Bush administration officials said last night.

"The North Koreans, who confirmed the project when challenged by visiting U.S. diplomats earlier this month, said the existence of the program nullifies a 1994 deal with the United States to halt their nuclear weapons program in return for foreign help.

[…]

"A U.S. delegation headed by Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly presented detailed evidence of a covert nuclear weapons program during an Oct. 3-5 trip, U.S. officials said. The North Koreans called the allegations "fabrications," but then a day later, a more senior official, Deputy Foreign Minister Kang Sok Joo, confirmed Kelly's charges. He said the North Koreans met through the night before deciding to reveal that the project had been underway for several years. He also said his government had developed other, more powerful weapons."

—Peter Slevin and Karen DeYoung, "North Korea Admits Having Secret Nuclear Arms," Washington Post, Oct. 17.

Got a whopper? Send it to . To be considered, an entry must be an unambiguously false statement paired with an unambiguous refutation, and both must be derived from some appropriately reliable public source. Preference will be given to newspapers and other documents that Chatterbox can link to online.

Whopper Archive:
Oct. 11, 2002: Michael Bloomberg
Sept. 27, 2002: Rep. Tom Tancredo
Sept. 13, 2002: Al-Muhajiroun
Sept. 6, 2002: National Republican Congressional Committee
Aug. 29, 2002: Eddie Joe Lloyd
Aug. 22, 2002: Larry Klayman
Aug. 2, 2002: Al Gore
July 26, 2002: Princeton admissions dean Stephen LeMenager
July 19, 2002: James Traficant
July 12, 2002: Maryland Lt. Gov. candidate Michael S. Steele
July 5, 2002: Hesham Mohamed Hadayet
June 28, 2002: WorldCom
June 21, 2002: Terry Lynn Barton
June 14, 2002: Tom Ridge
June 7, 2002: Former FBI Deputy Director Weldon Kennedy
May 31, 2002: Ari Fleischer
May 23, 2002: Condoleezza Rice
May 17, 2002: Robert Mueller
May 9, 2002: Karl Rove
May 3, 2002: Gen. Richard Myers
April 25, 2002: Donald Rumsfeld
April 18, 2002: George W. Bush
April 11, 2002: The Rev. Robert J. Banks, archdiocese of Boston
April 5, 2002: George W. Bush
March 29, 2002: Major League Baseball
March 21, 2002: Billy Graham
March 14, 2002: INS commissioner James W. Ziglar
March 8, 2002: Robert Zoellick and the U.S. steel industry
Feb. 28, 2002: Al Sharpton
Feb. 22, 2002: Olympic skating judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne
Feb. 14, 2002: Kenneth Lay
Feb. 8, 2002: Enron spokeswoman Peggy Mahoney
Jan. 31, 2002: Monsanto
Jan. 24, 2002: Linda Chavez
Jan. 17, 2002: George W. Bush
Jan. 10, 2002: Simon & Schuster
Jan. 4, 2002: The Associated Press