MSNBC: Roh Moo Hyun, the new South Korea president, said Kim was threatening to develop nuclear weapons because he had "no other bargaining chips ... Without this bargaining chip, Kim Jong Il does not have any other means of convincing his people that they are safe."
Translation: without nukes, Kim has no means of convincing his people that he can continue terrorizing and running his slave labor camps.
"If I mention the North Korean human rights situation, it will not help to improve the human rights conditions in North Korea."
Translation: "I can't mention the NK human rights situation becuase I don't want to remind the world that I won my presidency by supporting 'reunification' with a brutal dictatorship."
"Rather than confronting or opposing them politically, it is better to have dialogue with the regime to fundamentally solve this problem."
Translation: "Appeasement worked with Hitler and Saddam, why shouldn't it work with Kim?"
"The reason I cannot say I agree with [the possiblity of attacking NK] in public is because it would become an unstable factor for the Korean economy."
Translation: "The reason I cannot say I agree with the possiblity of attacking NK in public is because it would become an unstable factor for my presidency."
or: "The reason I cannot say I agree with the possiblity of attacking NK in public is because a communist dictatorship is obviously better for the Korean economy than capitalism."
"[The United States'] strong military presence in northeast Asia still scares North Korea."
Translation: "I like to pretend to sympathize with those who resent the US troops that are keeping my country from being wiped out by North Korean nukes."