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| John Bolton was right |
| 2007-10-02 |
| Hey, it's a better headline than theirs Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously kept a satellite photograph of the Korean Peninsula in his office at the Pentagon. The picture was taken at night and showed a brightly illuminated South Korea under a sea of darkness where the North was known to be. Only the city of Pyongyang gave off a faint glow. The photo could serve as a metaphor for the six-party nuclear-disarmament talks, which keep getting murkier when they should be opening more to world scrutiny. They adjourned Sunday without the agreement the diplomats were promising, though with a draft plan the parties are taking home to their superiors for comment and whose details remain secret. Granted, diplomacy requires some confidentiality, but transparency and verification are crucial to disarmament, especially when dealing with a regime like Kim Jong Il's. The February 13 six-party accord called for Pyongyang to deliver a comprehensive accounting of its nuclear program and arsenal within 60 days. We're still waiting. Transparency is all the more essential given recent news reports about likely North Korean nuclear proliferation in Syria. Washington says the main goal of the six-party talks is to prevent proliferation, and North Korea promised to cease and desist. Yet Pyongyang seems to have been caught in the act in Syria only months after making that promise. The Israelis were worried enough to risk a confrontation with Syria by bombing the site, not to mention flying over Turkish air space. Notably, the Turks didn't object. Syrian President Bashar Assad finally got around to confirming the air raid in an interview with the BBC yesterday, claiming the Israelis hit an "unused military building." North Korea had publicly denounced the bombing even before anyone had mentioned its involvement, and its chief nuclear negotiator last week referred to those who suspect a Pyongyang-Damascus connection as "lunatics." This is protesting a little too much. President Bush dodged three questions on the issue two weeks ago, except to warn North Korea one more time not to proliferate, which sounds suspiciously like a confirmation. Meanwhile on September 21, the Washington Post quoted government sources as saying that "Israel shared intelligence with President Bush this summer indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria." Then there's the not-so-little matter of North Korea's continuing missile proliferation. Last week the State Department's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation announced new sanctions against a North Korean company for spreading missile technology. The company--Korean Mining and Development Corp., or Komid--is a long-time offender. The U.S. Treasury last year called it "Pyongyang's premier arms dealer and main exporter of goods and weapons related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons." The new State Department finding reads: "A determination has been made that a North Korean entity has engaged in activities that require the imposition of measures pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, and the Export Administration Act of 1979 . . ." Since little happens in North Korea without the regime knowing, this is evidence that Kim is still in the proliferation business. The new U.S. sanctions were announced last Wednesday, the day before the six-party talks resumed in Beijing. Yet on Friday, the U.S. responded as if nothing had happened, by promising to send $25 million in fuel oil to North Korea. Beijing has pledged a similar amount, and China and South Korea have already delivered initial shipments. In return, North Korea is promising to deliver by year-end the account of its nuclear activities it was supposed to present in April. U.S. negotiator Chris Hill says things are going great. As do the South Koreans, who issued a press release yesterday referring to the "upbeat mood" of the disarmament talks. President Roh Moo-hyun, accompanied by a 300-member entourage, heads North today for a three-day PR extravaganza with Comrade Kim, and who-knows-what goodies he will leave behind. The last time a South Korean president made the pilgrimage to Pyongyang, in 2000, it later emerged that South Korea had paid $500 million for the honor. All of this is a far cry from the nuclear disarmament model set by Libya's Moammer Gadhafi in the wake of Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003. Libya abandoned its nuclear program up front, inviting U.S. investigators to see the hardware and haul it back to Tennessee; it was rewarded only after the disarmament was verified. For North Korea, the U.S. is winking at evidence of further proliferation, while offering more diplomatic bribes--all in the cause of getting Pyongyang to repeat promises it has already failed to honor. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > NORTH KOREA says there must be visible = measurable progress and benefit from its admissions per its nucprogs, OR ITS BACK TO SQUARE ONE. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-10-02 21:47 |
| #3 South Africa made a commitment to disarm that also would serve as a model. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2007-10-02 09:36 |
| #2 claiming the Israelis hit an "unused military building." "Well, I mean now it's unused." he continued. |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-10-02 08:19 |
| #1 "brightly illuminated South Korea under a sea of darkness where the North was known to be" So North Korea is the perfect model for the small carbon footprint 'Green' economy? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-10-02 07:40 |