WTF Is It Now?!?

Top N Korea official to spend more time with his family
A top State Department expert on North Korea who advocated a policy of incentives as well as penalties to persuade the nation to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons has resigned.

Jack Pritchard, the special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, is departing at a critical moment, days before six-nation talks begin in China to pressure North Korea to drop its efforts to reprocess spent fuel rods for weapons. He was criticized last week by a senator for being out of sync with the administration's policy.

Mr. Pritchard has long been involved in an ongoing argument with more hawkish officials in the Pentagon and the White House over how to deal with the North. He did not say why he had resigned, saying it would "be inappropriate for me to speak at a moment when talks are just beginning."

Philip Reeker, the State Department's deputy spokesman, denied today that Mr. Pritchard had been forced out and praised him for his years of service, but North Korea experts said Mr. Pritchard was known to be uncomfortable with the "evolving American policy." - - from the NY Times.