Monday, September 19, 2005
North Korea Agrees To Drop Nuclear Programs
AP alert just went out:
AP News AlertLink here.BEIJING (AP) — A joint statement released at the six-party nuclear talks says North Korea has promised to drop all nuclear programs as soon as possible.
The six-party talks were proceeding in Beijing- and had been simmering for two years prior- the core issue being North Korea’s oblique and heavy-handed burgeoning of a nuclear program, which for various reasons has been presumed to be less than peaceful and undeniably in violation of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
The nuclear program has been in place since the 1950s but only recently, with suppliers like A.Q. Kahn enabling proliferation, did it appear to be a credible threat to the interests of the Western World. North Korea is incredibly secretive, and the program exists at the whim of Kim Jong-il, who has made nuclear puissance across at least 22 Korean reactors the jewel of his name and his nation. Within the last two years- as these summaries make plain- the guise that North Korea’s ambitions are peaceful has fallen, with Foreign Ministers proclaiming that North Korea could mount missiles on warheads.
The talks are between United States, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia and, South Korea, and were reported to have hit another brick wall as late as Sunday evening.
North Korea has long insisted on bilateral negotiations with the United States, with its Eastern neighbors unable to ensure honest brokerage, and permitting Korea to make seperate peaces. Under George Bush, the United States has maintained a hardline stance on the issue of multilateralism, asserting that transparency would breed earnestness. The type of talks became an election issue in the 2004 presidential race, with Democrat John Kerry advocating acquiescence to North Korean demands that the four other nations leave the negotiations. President Bush rebuffed the senator, saying, “I know these people.” He added, at the final debate:
It is naive and dangerous to take a policy that he suggested the other day, which is to have bilateral relations with North Korea. Remember, he’s the person who’s accusing me of not acting multilaterally. He now wants to take the six-party talks we have — China, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States — and undermine them by having bilateral talks.This is the second major nuclear coup for the Bush Administration, which launched the Iraq War in 2003 which was widely recognized as the impetus for Khaddafi and Libya to voluntarily disarm its nuclear program.
The latest dispatch had the United States almost ready to leave the talks, with North Korea stubbornly refusing to dismantle its program or offer serious concessions. The political escalation, as described by State Department officials, would be to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which could instutute economic sanctions. North Korea is on record as saying that sanctions would mean war.
UPDATE: According to this AP report, Korea has agreed to IAEA inspection of its dismantling. The agreement was unanimous across the six parties, and in it was language that the United States and North Korea, which has been publicly outraged at its classification in the Axis of Evil, would respect each other’s sovereignty and right to peaceful coexistence.
MORE: Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei is quoted by Reuters as saying, “The joint statement is the most important achievement in the two years since the start of six-party talks.”
MORE: According to Yonhap News, the agreement recognizes a right to peaceful use of nuclear technology.
BLOGGERS COMMENTING: Dan Darling. Chris Short. Jan Haugland. Mac Powell. Joe Gandleman. Kevin Drum says, “If this is on the level, it’s great news. It would also be a terrific accomplishment for the Bush administration. They could use one.” Don Luskin suspects the media will “portray it as a move to distract the American people from Bush’s purported failure in the Gulf Coast relief effort.” Though, if the Korean are serious- as all indicators say they are this time- that charge won’t hold much water.
UPDATE (Monday AM): Ed Morrisey: “The agreement should allow the US to focus much more attention on Iran, once a compliance team gets on the ground in North Korea.” Iran will come to a head today, as an IAEA meeting may decide whether the US, France, Germany and Britain (and, notably, not India) follow through on their threat to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council.
James Joyner is worried about another episode of abrogation: an understandable concern considering the dealer, but it seems less likely this time around, given the number of close nations with whom Pyongyang has the agreement.
The DPRK Studies blog has some insightful commentary.
Politechnical asks, “Let’s break out the champagne and call this a win for diplomacy, but what’s really going on?”
The Associated Press provides the full text of the Six-Party Agreement here, and you can read the similar, but now-defunct bilateral agreement of 1994 right here.
Posted on September 19, 2005 12:36 AM. Permalink 