Posted on 04/02/2005 2:12:42 PM PST by rightalien
North Korea may be rattling its nuclear sword and threatening the U.S. and its allies, but former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg blames deteriorating relations on President Bush.
Gregg says Bush has a personal dislike for the North Korean dictator Kim Jong il -- an animosity that has skewed U.S. policy creating a crisis in the region.
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For sure, the criticism is coming from an unexpected source. Gregg is a former advisor to the first President Bush, an ex-CIA official who served as chief of station for the CIA in South Korea from 1973 to 1975. President George H.W. Bush appointed him as U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 1989 to 1993. In addition to charging the U.S. with "demonizing" North Korea, a regime that is allowing mass starvation among its people in order to finance its nuclear and military build-up, Gregg told Montana's Missoulian paper that although it is likely that North Korea does have nuclear weapons, the most they could be used for is self-defense.
Gregg seemed to dismiss both North Korea's threatening gestures -- and the fact it has test fired nuclear capable missiles towards Japan.
By demonizing North Korea, Gregg said, the Bush administration has an excuse to justify building an expensive missile defense program and creating an international bogeyman to justify alleged U.S. militancy.
This policy, he said, appears to be in direct contradiction of U.S. policy under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. He recalled that during his most recent trip in August 2004, the North Korean officials he visited were anxious to know how to re-establish relations.
"They were saying, 'We've watched you go to war (in Iraq) on the basis of erroneous intelligence of weapons of mass destruction - we're concerned you might do the same with us,'" Gregg told the Missoulian's Rob Chaney. "They're wondering, 'How can we talk to the Americans when they think we're devils?'"
Gregg blamed what he sees as the problem on what he called Bush's personal dislike of North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Il, one of the world's most brutal dictators.
Gregg cited opposing views, including former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and South Korean officials who say that Kim Jong Il is more favorably inclined toward the United States than many others in his government.
"The stone in the road is President Bush's ad hominem animosity against Kim Jong Il," Gregg said. "I think he's hoping that pressure will bring about regime change. And it may well, and we may get someone much worse for our interests."
Said Gregg "Bush has created a face problem for himself. It's mystifying why Bush people don't take care of an issue that's much easier to deal with than, for example, the Middle East."
Gregg claimed that the South Koreans see big benefits in reunification, or at least normalized relations throughout the peninsula, and added that the Chinese have much to gain by spreading their influence along the Asian coast of the Pacific as well.
He said that South Korea already trades more with China than the United States and that the Russians see better ports and transportation systems to get their eastern natural resources to better markets. The major Russian city of Vladivostok sits near North Korea's northeastern border.
Gregg may have a slight conflict of interest in promoting North Korea's interests - he is now president of the Korea Society, a nonprofit agency arranging business and cultural contacts between the United States and both North and South Korea.
Exactly! And maybe I missed it, but I didn't see a word about Kim's abrogation of the Framework Agreement...even when Bill Clinton did all those wonderful things that Gregg thinks important.
So in spite of kim's being a brutal dictator , our President
shouldn't take a personal dislike to him?
Where do these people come from and how do they get government jobs?
"Gregg says Bush has a personal dislike for the North Korean dictator Kim Jong il"
Heavens to Mergatroid! Dislike EVEN!
Yeah, Saddam really was a teddy bear, the Bushes mis-portrayed him as the big bad wolf. Castro is a doll. And look at Kim, isn't he a cuddly baby? Those aren't really weapons, they're toys. Who is this ambassador guy ??!! What an idiot!!!
He's got "big hair"
FMCDH(BITS)
That is why this piece is complete BS....and has nothing to do with "personal" feelings. In the 1994 agreement the Clinton Administration agreed to provide two modern light-water nulcear reactors for electricity production...and about 500,000 tons of heavy oil. In return, the US would ease trade and economic restrictions within three months, establish diplomatic liaison office in Pyongyang and eventually upgrade relations to full ambassadorial level.
What the media refuses to mention is that as part of this agreement, Clinton had the authority to appoint US nulcear weapons inspectors...which he never did. In fact, one report notes that Vienna had no idea how far NK's nuclear program was because they hadn't inspected it since 1994. As many have also noted, not only has NK abrogated this agreement, the very material that we gave them was enough to develop several nuclear weapons.
The sad fact is that Bill Gertz had been reporting this since at least 1996 and nobody was listening. And his information was coming from his sources within Clinton's own administration. Sure, Bush has a dislike for this guy. So would any rational person after seeing what KJI has done here. This isn't just an issue of NK nukes and lying...it creates the potential for an Arms Race breaking out in Asia and through much more of the Mid-East. You'd think most (anti-nuke) liberals would recognize this fact and realize just how dangerous this situation is.
"Gregg may have a slight conflict of interest in promoting North Korea's interests - he is now president of the Korea Society, a nonprofit agency arranging business and cultural contacts between the United States and both North and South Korea." Why didn't he start the article with this quote and save us the trouble of reading this foolishness?
Of course, North Korea is completely innocent of everything by virtue of being a communist country.
I get a kick out of it when Bush-appointed RINO's later betray and politically backstab.
The ingratitude and disloyalty is amusing.
Whitman was the most recent case. Rino's will just kick you in the groin.
It's like Lucy pulling away Charlie Brown's football. The Bush family never learns.
. You'd think most (anti-nuke) liberals would recognize this fact and realize just how dangerous this situation is.
Blinded by their denial of responsibility for bill clinton and their carefully self inculcated hatred of GW.
In my opinion, Gregg is deep in Chinese pocket. He is their client. What Gregg pushes is in line with Chinese agenda. I am afraid that many around daddy Bush are in Chinese pocket. They are the American version of Kuomintang crowd in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, I think you may be right, TLR.
"Gregg says Bush has a personal dislike for the North Korean dictator Kim Jong il"
So Do I! And anyone in the gov't who doesn't ought to be shown the door, at the very least.
I don't know what Gregg is up to these days, but if he's in a position to directly influence others in policy making, maybe he's worth an investigation.
Correction:
He is their client --> China is his client.
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