Posted on 09/19/2005 7:42:40 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Will Agreement Shake Cooperation Between Seoul and Washington
The second part of the fourth round of the six-party talks, which reconvened on Sept. 13, went through considerable ups and downs prior to the announcement of a joint statement Monday.
The South Korean government spent the last week engaging in last-moment negotiations to find an agreement over the light-water reactor issue, which North Korea would not abandon to the end, despite considerable tensions between Seoul and Washington.
Some, however, are wondering whether Seoul’s assumption of a mediating role between the United States and North Korea might become a burden on South Korea-U.S. cooperation on the North Korea nuclear issue.
The last-minute Chinese draft presented, in fact, South Korean ideas. It includes giving a change to North Korea to receive light-water reactors in the future, and the wording resembled that of the actual joint declaration. When U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill first saw the modified draft on Friday, however, he said he could not accept the vaguely worded agreement.
The U.S. delegation’s attitude on the matter, however, changed in just one day. Hill said Saturday that the participants had a good draft, and he’d engaged in much discussion with Washington.
There are many interpretations of this. Firstly, some say that to kill an agreement agreed to by South Korea, China and Russia with U.S. opposition would have been burdensome for Washington. The interpretation runs that the Bush administration, facing trouble at home and abroad, wished to avoid responsibility for a rupture in the talks.
The United States, however, has through the agreement virtually broken with the principle it had been most bombastic about. The Bush administration had been saying it could not reward illegal actions, calling it the “fundamental of fundamentals” of a resolution to the nuclear issue. Washington had also claimed that North Korea, which had already misused its peaceful nuclear program, could not be allowed another light-water reactor. Through this agreement, however, both principles have been shaken. Accordingly, some say its possible that U.S. neoconservatives, who take a hard-line against North Korea, will unleash an attack on the architects of the agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.
Some point out that should there be criticism within the U.S. unsatisfied with South Korea’s mediation role, tensions and fissures may arise between Seoul and Washington.
Things may have calmed down for now. However, it is possible that Washington's patience with the government in Seoul has run out and some actions might be planned against Seoul under the surface.
This game over N. Korean nuke is not over yet. On the contrary, its main event has just started.
Ping!
What is China and the other local partners ding in this agreement or once again is it all us.
Beijing. Ignore that man behind the curtain.
Japan is with U.S.. China and Russia lean heavily toward N. Korea. S. Korea is frequently on China's side.
As for paying for whatever goodies N. Korea may get, S. Korean government is happy to do it, because they want to make a big political splash out of it in front of domestic audience. China will pick up the rest. U.S. contribution in monetary terms would be nominal.
They know they are ground zero, and with a credible retaliation from Japan, they just want to kick the can down the road.
Maybe the US has just used the proxy of Koizumi here? Perhaps we are finally reaping the benefit of a true (for the moment) ally in Japan?
This is just propaganda.
The only way to keep North Korea from developing nuclear weapons is to terminate North Korea. They don't need any help in that, and will collapse no matter how much aid the Chinese offer unless the aid comes with several hundred thousand Chinese fraternal humanitarian aid volunteers to make certain most of it is used as aid rather than being sold in the black market in China. I.e., only Chinese occupation can keep the Norks nominally going.
But the Norks can do a lot of damage selling nukes for cash before they collapse.
I repeat, this is just a sham.
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