Posted on 02/20/2007 9:57:44 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Negroponte to shore up N Korea deal
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: February 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated:
February 21 2007 02:00
John Negroponte's first mission as US deputy secretary of state is expected to take him to Asia next week to shore up last week's breakthrough deal with North Korea, under which Pyongyang is to close its nuclear bomb-making facilities in return for aid and peace talks.
Mr Negroponte, the former national director of intelligence who took up his new post only last week, would visit China, South Korea and Japan, officials said. One senior official said Mr Negroponte planned to add Pyongyang to his itinerary, though others either denied this or said such a trip was unlikely at this stage. The US State Department said only: "We have nothing to announce at this time."
Mr Negroponte would be the most senior US official to visit Pyongyang since the visit in October 2000 by Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state.
Last month, US president George W. Bush's administration abandoned opposition to bilateral talks with North Korea by allowing Christopher Hill, its chief negotiator, to engage his North Korean counterpart in talks in Berlin.
That led to the breakthrough at Chinese-brokered negotiations in Beijing on February 13, after almost 18 months of impasse.
The Bush administration and in particular Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, have been fiercely criticised by Washington hawks over last week's deal. Officials admitted that a high-level visit to Pyongyang would be highly controversial internally.
David Frum, analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote that the deal with North Korea contained no more safeguards against cheating than the failed agreement reached between Pyonyang and the US in 1994.
Under that deal, North Korea agreed to freeze its Yongbyon nuclear facility, but the deal fell apart in 2002 when the Bush administration accused the communist regime of secretly enriching uranium.
Pyongyang then expelled UN inspectors and restarted operations at Yongbyon, a process that culminated in its first nuclear test last October.
Mr Frum warned that the current deal, which involves the US removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terror, would harm close relations with Japan, which has an unresolved issue over its citizens kidnapped by North Korea.
Meanwhile, Dick Cheney, US vice-president, arrived in Japan yesterday on an Asian trip which will take him on to Australia. John Howard, the Australian prime minister, said Mr Bush had called him for a long discussion on North Korea. "The president is realistically optimistic," Mr Howard said of the prospects for the deal with North Korea.
Robert Einhorn, a proliferation expert who was part of the US delegation to Pyong-yang in 2000, said a high-level visit to North Korea was important to sustain momentum. "This is a critical phase of the process," he said. However, he considered that Mr Hill would be more likely than Mr Negroponte to become the first senior US official to visit Pyongyang.
Mr Einhorn described some of the first actions required of North Korea during the first 60 days of the agreement as "textbook" measures, including allowing the return of UN inspectors and installing fresh seals on equipment at the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
What momentum? N. Korea is not Libya.
Ping!
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) published a new report today on North Korea's nuclear capabilities, including their ability to launch a nuclear warhead on a missile.
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/dprk/DPRKplutoniumFEB.pdf
Japan has been ignoring our plea on economics dor 20+ years.
They can pound sand this time.
U.S. must have something really great from N. Korea this time. Enough to brush aside Japan's concern.
One day, the closest ally of U.S., the next day, a nobody who should just pound sand.
Did N. Korea agree to station U.S. troops at Yalu-Tumen border?
I wonder if Mr. Negroponte will also be photographed swilling champagne with Kim Jong-il.
He can try snake wine.:-)
It appears to me that we have simply yielded to North Korea for no reason. It's simply Agreed Framework II under the new U.S. version of a Sunshine Policy.
I was being sarcastic.
Gone "Wobbly".
Pure and simple.
And will they exchange email addresses?
That disaster in making mark my word TIGER ROFL
If Negroponte is going to suck up to Kim he should bring some Hennesey Brandy and a pack of X-rated playing cards.
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