Proposals To N. Korea Weighed: U.S. Might Offer No-Attack Pledge

Washington Post ^ | 07/22/03 | Glenn Kessler

[Pokey78]

Bush administration officials are considering granting North Korea formal guarantees it will not come under U.S. attack as part of a verifiable dismantlement of its nuclear facilities, in what would be part of a diplomatic gambit by the Bush administration aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

In extensive talks last week with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, administration officials asked him to inform the North Koreans that the United States would agree to meet again with Chinese and North Korean officials in Beijing, provided the session was followed almost immediately by multilateral talks that include South Korea, Japan and possibly Russia, U.S. officials said yesterday.

Administration officials said that at this broader multilateral meeting, they would formally unveil a U.S. plan for ending the crisis, which has prompted intense discussion within senior levels of the administration about the form of the proposal and how it would be presented.

[Almondjoy]

Why not? I mean if they break the agreement they break it.. all bets are off.. It's not so much an agreement as it is an ultimatum. No war if you dismantle the facilities.. screw up.. and war it is.

[gcruse]

Why not? I mean if they break the agreement they break it.. all bets are off.

You mean like the agreement they have been breaking for the last decade?
'All bets are off' is diplomatese for,  "I'll give you everything you want, but
that's my final offer."

screw up.. and war it is.

Yeah, right.

[squidly]

Great. Just what we need, another agreement with PDRK.

[ladyinred]

I think you know that in spite of the lefties lies of late, Bush is a man of his word. He will go to war if need be. The real problem is the nukes of course, and it is sensible to try to get them dismantled rather than take the risk they will use them on us! Think about it.

[gcruse]

Appeasement doesn't work and JucheFruit can't be trusted anymore than Saddam Hussein. Do you really think the PRC will sit there while we go to war against NK?

[BenLurkin]

NKwon't honor any new agreements. We can't be that big of a sucker as to even bother trying . . . can we?

[exit82]

No Attack Pledge?

Why would we offer them furniture polish?

[squidly]

Do you really think the PRC will sit there while we go to war against NK?

This time they might, they just might. Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out.

[zarf]

bada bing!!

[DuncanWaring]

How about this proposal:?

"Behave yourselves, and you won't become the Korean Straits"

[Aaron0617]

Oh, Goody. We're giving into their demands.

Will money, oil and food also be part of the deal? Will that be all NK? Anything else?

[Almondjoy]

You obviously must of missed the war in iraq.

[gcruse]

If you think invading NK with the PRC standing in the way in any way resembles Iraq, we are going to need an addendum definition for the word chutzpah.

[Almondjoy]

I didn't say it would be anything like Iraq. But if you think we are going to sit here and do nothing.. I just left them as an example. I would assume our bigger terror threat still comes from the middle east.. we have to change their way of life there. NK could be pursaded through other measures to reverse course. It will however take major leaning from China. How we get China to do that? I don't know. They may get enough incentive if we get SK and Japan to talk up nuclear weapons.