North Korea Hands over Nuclear Report, US Responds

Every once in a while, the international community gets some good news. Yesterday, the North Korean government handed over an accounting of its nuclear program to the Chinese as part of the Six-Party talks regarding the Korean peninsula (six months late). In return, the US has promised to lift sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act, and in 45 days will remove North Korea from the list of nations the State Department claims sponsor terrorism. This is what comes of talking to one’s enemies.

Deb Riechmann of the Associated Press reported, “A senior US official said the declaration contains detailed data on the amount of plutonium North Korea produced during each of several rounds of production at a now-shuttered plutonium reactor. It is expected to total about 37 kilograms of plutonium — enough to make about a half-dozen bombs. However, the declaration, which covers nuclear production dating back to 1986, does not contain detailed information about North Korea's suspected program of developing weapons fueled by enriched uranium. It also does not provide a complete accounting of how it allegedly helped Syria build what senior US intelligence officials say was a secret nuclear reactor meant to make plutonium, which can be used to make high-yield nuclear weapons. Israeli jets bombed the structure in the remote eastern desert of Syria in September 2007.”

Mr. Bush and his people have rightly pointed out that this is but one step in a very long journey. “The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang,” Mr. Bush told reporters after he announced the lifting of sanctions. “Yet we welcome today’s development as one step of a multi-step process.” He also said, “This isn't the end of the process, this is the beginning of the process.” Further, he told the media, “If North Korea continues to make the right choices it can repair its relationship with the international community . . . . If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and its partners in the six-party talks will act accordingly.”

The next step in this process will come today, when the North Koreans blow up the cooling tower at their Yongbyon nuclear plant. Extraordinarily, they have agreed to let foreign media cover the event. If North Korea were to decide to backtrack, it would take a year to get the cooling system up and running again, according to experts cited by Reuters. In other words, if the tower really does get destroyed in front of CNN, North Korea will be committed to further dismantling if only because it has no choice.

Much has been made of one presidential candidate’s willingness to talk to America’s rivals and adversaries without preconditions. This breakthrough on the Korean peninsula demonstrates what a nation can accomplish for itself and its allies if it gives diplomacy a chance. Nothing is guaranteed, but the evidence is there. Talking works.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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