North Korea sent the world on an emotional and diplomatic rollercoaster this week with a couple of major announcements. After three years of six-party talks, on Monday, North Korea finally agreed to abandon their nuclear weapons program. Advocates of peace and freedom all over the world celebrated and welcomed North Korea’s stabilizing move. Unfortunately, this piece of news proved to be little more than a false hope. Less than 24 hours later, the North Koreans amended their previous statement, by demanding that the US supply them with light water reactors, used to generate power, and that they be allowed to keep a nuclear program for “peaceful activities.” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack summed it up when he said “This is obviously not the agreement they signed.” Then, reiterating the uncertainty of the situation, he finished, “We will see what the coming weeks bring.” The U.S. and Korea agreed to discuss light water reactors (LWRs) at an appropriate time. But Kim Jung Il seems to have decided unilaterally that the best time to discuss it was Tuesday. Less than a day after the initial agreement, North Korea announced that, “The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea’s) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing LWRs,.” The new demands have been deemed “unacceptable” by Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and have been similarly rejected by the United States. It would be wise for South Korea, China, and Russia to take similar actions. Conceding to these new demands would override Monday’s agreement and bring the world community back to square one, dealing with the untrustworthy leadership of Kin Jong Il’s dictatorial regime. Just over a decade ago the United States conducted bilateral negotiations with North Korea concerning the disarmament of a 5-megawatt graphite reactor and an end to research concerning nuclear weapons. In exchange, the North Koreans were promised oil and light water reactors from the United States. These negotiations became known as the Agreed Framework. But it took only four years for the North Koreans to violate the terms of this agreement by continuing weapons research and launching a missile over Japan. We offered them light water reactors a decade ago, and they blew it. We should not be baited into making a colossal mistake today. But we also cannot afford to lose any more time at the negotiation table, and can’t play these games of cat-and-mouse. Three years of talks and over a decade of diplomacy have proven yet unfruitful. It’s a sticky diplomatic situation. Bush, overwhelmed by Iraq and Katrina, appears to be softening up a little bit. Under pressure from China, the US did agree to a loosely-worded deal granting a civilian nuclear reactor. These leniencies did little more than to spark a new hope in the North Koreans and lead them to believe they could strong-arm the US. In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush called North Korea a “regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.” We can not justify giving in to such a government and still claim to stand for freedom and democracy in Iraq and elsewhere. While Bush has a lot on his plate right now, nothing should overshadow the importance of North Korea or nuclear proliferation in general. The six party talks are scheduled to resume in November and work out the specifics of the implementation of Monday’s plan. Before then though, the United States must decide what exactly our policy is and coordinate with China, South Korea, and Russia so that there is no confusion about the limits to our concessions. We have been down this road with North Korea before. We cannot let these negotiations relapse into those of the Clinton-era, when we relegated ourselves as prisoners of North Korean demands. If the North Korean government cannot stand by their word for 24 hours, what good will any agreement be? The United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan cannot work alone. The entire international community needs to lend us their unwavering support to ensure the supervised denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
