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North Korea Will Wait on New Nuclear Tests
// If the United States Repeals Sanctions
Yesterday China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, commenting on the outcome of Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Tang Jiaxuan's recent visit to Pyongyang, announced that North Korea said in talks on October 19 that it does not plan to carry out any further nuclear tests. The announcement accompanies increasing international and domestic pressure on the American administration to agree to two-sided talks with Pyongyang in order to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.
The contents of the announcement were similar to what Mr. Tang told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her visit to Beijing on October 20: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has agreed to suspend nuclear testing and has even agreed to return to the table for six-sided talks concerning the North Korean nuclear problem, but only if the United States takes steps towards North Korea and agrees to cancel proposed sanctions against the country.
Although Washington gives little credit to Mr. Kim's promises, the international community immediately seized upon the opportunity to resolve the nuclear crisis without imposing sanctions on North Korea.
In the South Korean capital of Seoul, thousands of students, social organizations, and professional unions took part in anti-US demonstrations on October 22. "No to sanctions! Yes to dialog!" and "Sanctions against North Korea mean war!" read some of the posters carried by the protestors
That same day, criticism of the Bush administration's policies in North Korea came from a surprising source: one of the leaders of the Republican party in Washington, Senator Richard Lugar. Mr. Lugar, the chair of the Senate foreign affairs committee, said that sooner or later the US president will have to meet with Kim Jong-il in order to tell him directly that the United States does not intend to impose regime change in North Korea.
The next day, in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, UN IAEA General Director Mohamed ElBaradei called the North Korean nuclear test a "cry for help" from a country that truly sees itself as surround by enemies. He expressed certainty that the global nuclear nonproliferation regime can survive even this test, as long as the process of resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis is not fatally disrupted. To ensure that it will not be, Mr. ElBaradei called on the international community to enter into dialog with North Korea.
"Dialog cannot be a reward – it is a means of resolving international problems," said Mr. ElBaradei, referring to the Bush administration's refusal to "reward" Mr. Kim by agreeing to direct talks with Pyongyang without some signs of "good behavior" from North Korea, such as ceasing its nuclear weapons program and improving its human rights record. Discussing the possibility of sanctions, Mr. ElBaradei noted that the experience of the past several years has shown the world that punishment measures more often than not do not give the desired outcome and instead lead to conflict within the international community.
The United States, however, is standing firm in its refusal to enter into direct talks with Mr. Kim. White House Security Advisor Jack Crouch dismissed the idea that North Korea's nuclear tests indicate the failure of President Bush's policies in Korea. "The United States cannot be responsible for the decisions made in Pyongyang," he said. Meanwhile, North Korea has promised to "take retaliatory measures" if the US continues to rebuff its advances. Such measures will undoubtedly be further nuclear tests.
Andrei Ivanov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 25, 2006
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