Views Differ Over US Shift on North Korea

CNSNews.com ^ | June 27, 2008 | Patrick Goodenough

[Man50D]

(CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration's decision to ease trade sanctions on North Korea and start a 45-day process of removing Pyongyang from a list of terror-sponsors has drawn fire from conservatives and praise from quarters usually critical of the president's foreign policies.

The decision also fueled a long running debate in Japan, where many feel the move is premature.

The announcement that North Korea will be removed from the terrorism list and that sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act will be lifted followed the regime's handover of a written declaration -- six months overdue -- of its plutonium-based nuclear program.

IIn a largely symbolic step, North Korea on Friday destroyed what what left of its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in Yongbyon.

Both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed that the declaration handover was an initial step in a multi-stage process, and that the accuracy and completeness of the documentation would need to be verified during the next 45 days.

The issue of accuracy and completeness lies at the heart of concerns about the timing of the announcement.

In the wording of an agreement reached at six-party talks and announced last Oct. 3 , North Korea "agreed to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs" by Dec. 31.

But a State Department statement issued the same day added a critical phrase about North Korea's suspected uranium-enrichment program, another route to building a nuclear weapon. Pyongyang, the statement said, "agreed to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs -- including clarification regarding the uranium issue -- by the end of the year."

[ovrtaxt]

Here’s my view: This is a totally boneheaded strategy on the part of the Bush admin. That nuke plant they blew up was an old decrepit pile of crap anyway, so they used the demolition as a PR stunt. There are no mechanisms for verification of NKs claims built into the deal, and the engineering documents they released for review some time ago had traces of URANIUM on them! Which tips us off to a secret uranium enrichment program that we previously only suspected.

This is not cool. Madeline Albright couldn’t have done worse.

Well, maybe she could, but still...

[Joe Boucher]

This administration is just the latest in a long list to be taken in by the North Korean dictator.
I think you will in time see that Mr. Bush is as stupid as Mr. Carter and Clinton in dealing with little kim.

[SuziQ]

President Bush did exactly what Reagan did toward the old Soviet Union. He’s dealing with N. Korea on a ‘trust, but verify’ basis, but he can’t seem to catch a break with the BDS crowd. From what I’ve read about it, this is NOT the same old deal that Carter and Maddy Halfbright made during x42’s administration. They trusted the ‘dear Leader’; this President doesn’t.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The wide consensus HERE IN JAPAN is that President Bush was FOOLED and that true to form, the North Koreans will once again violate everything they have promised, buying them even more time to arm and develop nukes and prepare for an attack on Japan, using naive western benevolence and appeasement to their advantage. despite originally being on target with the Axis of Evil approach of the earlier days of his Administration.

Nobody here I talk to EVER trusts the North Koreans under the current regime of Kim Jong il. AND they know how to find the DPRK on a map, and it is in the news all the time. Japanese are informed.

Not like the great majority of Americans--even though it is their American troops and thousands of other Americans civilians in the region who are at direct risk thanks to Bush's foolish State Department-inspired Clintonian/Carterite LEGACY tomfooleries.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Bullsh*t.

And you can take that to the bank.

FROM ASIA.

[AmericanInTokyo]

BUSH DOES trust North Korea, his behavior shows it. He went in with the State Department crowd, clear and simple.

Next thing to watch for is BEIJING.

When he goes there in September for the Olympics, and if China arranges for Kim Jong il to visit by train for Pyongyang, China will broker a behind the scenes, Neville Chamberlain meeting between The Chimp and the Fat Boy.

Just watch. They are already putting the pieces into place at Foggy Bottom, Chinese Foreign Ministry and Pyongyang Worker's Party headquarters. A nice "win", "win", "win" all around, wouldn't you say??

Yeahhh!! Lets here it for LEGACY.

[TigerLikesRooster]

“post-9/11” Bush is an aberration. Bush went back to his root after 2006 mid-term election. That fits better with the “Open Border” Bush who wanted to do anything to co-opt Hispanics before 9/11. He is not that far from his dad.

[AmericanInTokyo]

entirely agreed.

history will prove these observations correct.

and yet all kinds of people, even here on FR, who dont look into the gory details fo the situation, still drink the Bush Koolaid and think this was some kind of great "victory".

Well, I would agree that it is a "victory" alright. Problem is, "victory" for the little guy in the brown UPS uniform, NOT the good guys.