[Marxism] Democrats and Republicans Unite for Election Eve Attack Against North Korea

["Tony Abdo" <gojack10@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

More N. Korean Bombs Likely, U.S. Official Says
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 16, 2004

North Korea is likely to be producing nuclear bombs even as it conducts
negotiations with the United States and four other countries on ending its
weapons programs, the senior U.S. official responsible for those talks told
Congress yesterday.

"Time is certainly a valid factor in this," said James A. Kelly, the
assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, during testimony before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We don't know the details, but it's
quite possible that North Korea is proceeding along, developing additional
fissionable material and possibly additional nuclear weapons."

Although North Korea has asserted that it has produced weapons-grade
plutonium since the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programs began 20 months
ago -- and though U.S. intelligence analysts broadly believe that the number
of nuclear weapons held by North Korea has increased from two to at least
eight during this period -- it is highly unusual for a senior administration
official to concede publicly that North Korea's stockpile may be growing.

After four negotiating sessions with North Korea and its neighbors since
April 2003, Kelly said, it "is clear we are still far from agreement." The
first round included China and later expanded to involve South Korea, Japan
and Russia.

Democrats on the committee scolded the administration for waiting too long
to present North Korea with a detailed proposal for ending the crisis. At
the most recent six-nation talks, held in Beijing last month, the
administration proposed that once North Korea declares it would end its
programs, U.S. allies such as South Korea could provide immediate energy
assistance.

North Korea then would have three months to disclose its programs and have
its claims verified by U.S. intelligence. After that, the United States
would join in providing Pyongyang with written security assurances and
participate in a process that might ultimately result in the normalization
of relations.

"The bottom line is that we now confront a much more dangerous adversary
than we did in 2001," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), the ranking
Democrat on the panel. He accused the administration of adopting a policy of
"benign neglect" even after learning that Pyongyang had a clandestine
nuclear effort, and then taking "more than two years to resolve its internal
divisions and settle on an approach for dealing with North Korea."

Under questioning, Kelly made it clear that improving relations with North
Korea would take much more than the dismantling of its nuclear programs. In
particular, he said, North Korea would need to improve its human rights
record.

"We're not looking to bribe North Korea to end its nuclear weapons state,"
Kelly said. "We see this as a very important objective, but then we have
made clear that normalization of our relations would have to follow these
other important issues. And human rights is co-equal in importance, perhaps
even more important, than conventional forces, chemical weapons, ballistic
missiles, matters of that sort."

In response to the administration's proposal, North Korea has demanded
immediate assistance from the United States once it freezes its programs.
Kelly said the administration is still studying the North Korean proposal,
which he called vague.

He told lawmakers that the administration does not consider the security
assurances a "reward" or a benefit that could be claimed by North Korea as a
U.S. concession.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

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