Posted on 09/21/2005 5:26:04 AM PDT by OESY
Contrary to conventional wisdom, which holds the North Korean state to be an unremittingly hostile "negotiating partner," history actually demonstrates that Pyongyang can be a highly obliging interlocutor under certain very specific conditions. All that is necessary to "get to yes" with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is to concede every important point demanded by the North Korean side while sacrificing vital interests of one's own.
Monday's "breakthrough" at the six-party talks in Beijing would appear to conform precisely to this long-established pattern. The vaunted outcome -- a long-desired "consensus statement" inked by North Korea and the other five governments engaged in protracted discussions over North Korean denuclearization -- is being celebrated by diplomatic sophisticates in Seoul, Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington.
Enthusiasts contend that the North Korean regime, after two years of tough talks with five other countries united in the desire to force it to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, has at last agreed to a step-by-step process that will eventually resolve the crisis. In reality, nothing of the sort has taken place. A careful reading of the Sept. 19 joint statement suggests instead that North Korean negotiators have just achieved a stunning advance in their government's quest to "normalize" its nuclear weapons program. There's also been equally momentous progress in Pyongyang's longstanding campaign to sunder the U.S.-South Korean military alliance. Wittingly or otherwise, the U.S. negotiating team has executed an apparent cave-in -- embracing precepts crucial to North Korean objectives but inimical to Washington's own....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I suppose it doesn't matter that Bush means what he says and has a history of holding foreign leaders to their word.
We shall see.
Isn't it about time to render NK's nuclear program moot?
A few stealth sorties should do it.
Let the SKs sort it out.
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