 AP Photo |
Posted on 10/19/2002 12:23:29 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A U.S. envoy on Saturday urged North Korea (news - web sites) to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, warning there will be no easy way out for the recalcitrant communist regime.
|
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, speaking after meetings with Chinese and South Korean officials, said Washington will lead a global campaign to bring "maximum international pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons ambition."
South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun was visiting Pyongyang, where he said he would urge North Korea to realize the international furor over its clandestine nuclear program.
"It is of paramount importance (for the North) to wisely resolve the concern recently raised," Jeong said in a speech during a dinner hosted by North Korean Prime Minister Hong Song Nam, according to pool reports from Pyongyang. Official talks begin Sunday.
On Wednesday, Washington said North Korea admitted having a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement the two countries signed in Geneva. The admission came at Oct. 3-5 talks in Pyongyang, when Kelly confronted his North Korean counterparts with evidence of a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
Both Koreas had agreed earlier to use the latest round of Cabinet-level talks to promote reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula. Now Jeong says his most urgent task will be to gauge whether the North wants dialogue or confrontation.
Kelly said the Bush administration will not follow the diplomatic course that produced the 1994 agreement. Under that accord, North Korea pledged to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for construction of two light-water reactors. As part of the deal, the United States also provides North Korea with 500,000 tons of heating oil annually.
Critics have often said the 1994 deal coddled the Stalinist regime — a perception strengthened by the revelation that North Korea has been flouting that accord for years.
"This is not a replay of 1993 and 1994," Kelly said at a news conference after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong.
Kelly flew to South Korea (news - web sites) early Saturday from Beijing, where he and U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton met Chinese officials, who Kelly said "made it very clear that they strongly oppose any nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula."
On Sunday, Kelly planned to travel to Japan to continue consultations with regional powers.
Kelly said that the isolated, impoverished North's best way to resume dialogue with Washington to improve ties and win badly needed aid was first to give up its newly revealed nuclear program.
He said the new revelation made it impossible for Washington to engage the North with dialogue.
Kelly said no deadline or timetable had been set in the campaign to pressure North Korea to abandon its covert nuclear program, as the United States is focused now on consultations with allies.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Kelly will discuss temporarily stopping construction of light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea, Japan's largest daily, the Yomiuri, reported Saturday, citing unidentified government sources.
When asked whether he discussed scrapping the 1994 deal with South Korean officials, Kelly said: "No decisions have been made on any next steps."
South Korea says dialogue is the best way to deal with concerns about North Korea. News of North Korea's nuclear program threw the South's so-called "sunshine" policy of engagement into disarray.
South Korea and Japan, the chief U.S. allies in Northeast Asia, are most vulnerable to North Korea's arsenal of missiles, chemical and biological weapons and now, possibly, nuclear bombs.
As one who advocated gasoline rationing beginning Sept. 12, 2001, that's a damn good question.
People (liberals excepted) know that there is no free lunch. The war on terroism will be paid for, the only question is how.
I stand by my year-old answer: Inflation, the choice of politicians everywhere. Yeah, I know, that looks absurd right now, but just wait.
Sounds like a plan. Perhaps someone has a better plan?
But he won't.
And we'll get to see your prediction some true by about a year from now.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Bush decided not to certify Pyongyang's compliance with the framework — in a first for a U.S. president — but still ship 500,000 tons of fuel oil, as required by the accord.
North Korea Advisory Group Report to The Speaker U.S. House of Representatives November 1999
Don't know about these days, though.
Yup, exactly as I warned you, and it may get a LOT worse. If, in the middle of this, China allies with Russian gangs to pop open our prisons, cuts loose a bioterror attack, blows the Panama Canal, abets an attack from Mexico, and hits some major infrastructure (such as gas pipelines or electrical power sources to pump water), we're in big trouble.
Without power we cannot refrigerate. Without pumps we cannot grow food. Our entire agricultural apparatus is in danger of shutdown due to environmental regulation. Where will an urban population get its food and water? Where will they run? Who will take care of them? How would such services be located near population centers?
Guess where the structural solutions lie?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.