Bribing the Axis of Evil: Do we really want to give North Korea nuclear reactors?

Wall St Journal ^ | 6-24-02

[SJackson]

North Korea is one step closer to getting two light-water reactors that will give it the capacity to make more nuclear bombs. That much is clear from a glowing State Department statement issued last week after U.S. talks with Japanese and South Korean diplomats in San Francisco.

[goldstategop]

It was a Clinton deal. Why the Bush Administration is pushing forward with it is beyond me. And Communists are the last people on earth who can be seduced with a bribe and the North Korean Commies make the Soviets look moderate in comparison.

[Kerberos]

And so the Bush doctrine continues to erode.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This deal was cooked up at the State Department, an outfit with a worse track record than the CIA.

[goldstategop]

Colon Bowell apparently hasn't heard North Korea is a member of the Axis of Evil yet. Go figure.

[toenail]

Ping. (I can't find your graphic for this.)

[Registered]

[toenail]

Thanks.

[niki]

But even the eager-to-talk diplomats couldn't ignore Pyongyang's refusal to open up its nuclear facilities to international inspection. That was a condition of the 1994 Agreed Framework, the Clinton-era attempt to bribe the North into ending its nuclear weapons program by the offer of the two light-water reactors. Instead, the diplomats skated over this fundamental requirement, referring simply to the need for "North Korea to move forward with steps needed to begin full cooperation" on the issue.

Our government seems to be full of suicidal wimps

[goldstategop]

Suicidal wussies is more like it.

[Enemy Of The State]

Sure, why not? whats another shot in the foot?

[MeekOneGOP]

Continuing with the reactor deal does not constitute a coherent U.S. strategy for dealing with North Korea, especially now that we've experienced the horrors of terrorism first hand. It isn't just a matter of giving a rogue state the means to make more nuclear weapons, though it would certainly do that. It's also about transferring nuclear expertise to Pyongyang on licensing, safety and operational matters.

Since September 11 such information has been so sensitive that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has restricted public access. The fear is that knowledge of how to build nuclear reactors could help terrorists find a way to attack them. So why does the State Department want to share information too dangerous to show freely to the U.S. public with an unstable regime that already sells missiles to anyone who asks?

Whoa ! This needs to stop. Thanks for the heads up.