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| Korea |
| Bush Shifts Focus to Nuclear Sales by North Korea |
| 2003-05-05 |
| CRAWFORD, Tex., May 4 — Tacitly acknowledging that North Korea may not be deterred from producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, President Bush is now trying to marshal international support for preventing the country from exporting nuclear material, American and foreign officials say. Mr. Bush discussed the new approach on Saturday morning with Australia's prime minister, John Howard, after the two men were given a lengthy briefing at Mr. Bush's ranch by the chief American negotiator with North Korea, James A. Kelly, officials said. For a decade, the United States' declared policy has been that North Korea would be prevented, by any means necessary, from producing plutonium or highly enriched uranium. President Bill Clinton ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for a military strike when the North threatened to begin production in 1994, but a nuclear freeze agreement was reached later that year. Mr. Bush's new focus on blocking the sale of nuclear material to countries or terrorist groups reflects intelligence officials' conclusion that they cannot ascertain whether North Korea was bluffing when it claimed last month that it had already reprocessed enough spent nuclear fuel to make many weapons. "The president said that the central worry is not what they've got, but where it goes," said an official familiar with the talks between Mr. Bush and Mr. Howard. "He's very pragmatic about it, and the reality is that we probably won't know the extent of what they are producing. So the whole focus is to keep the plutonium from going further." Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in an appearance on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," insisted today that the administration's long-term goal was to force North Korea to dismantle all of its nuclear weapons programs. He vowed that it would get no international aid unless its government changed course. "Everybody has now made it clear to North Korea that they will not find any assistance coming to them from the region in terms of economic development," he said, "unless they abandon their nuclear weapons programs." But in recent interviews, several American officials have said that it was becoming clear that the policy that Mr. Clinton described in 1994 — when he warned that producing plutonium could result in an American attack to destroy the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon — was probably not sustainable anymore. South Korea's new president, Roh Moo Hyun, who will visit Washington for the first time next week, "has made it clear he won't consider military action of any kind," said one senior administration official. "It's a different atmosphere than in 1994." Another official who has discussed the issue with Mr. Bush said his thinking was that the North Koreans "are looking to get us excited, to make us issue declarations." "And his answer to them is," the official added, `You're hungry, and you can't eat plutonium.' " Still, Mr. Bush's approach is a major gamble — one that depends on superb intelligence about North Korea's efforts to sell its weapons. So far, though, the nuclear program has been what one American intelligence official calls "the black hole of Asia." (con't see link) |
| Posted by:Anonymous |
| #1 Still, Mr. Bush's approach is a major gamble — one that depends on superb intelligence about North Korea's efforts to sell its weapons. We're doomed, I tell ya'. DOOMED |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-05 17:13:19 |