Top Administration Official Comments on Bush's
North Korea Policy;
United States, North Korea Set to Meet Later This Month
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2003
Press Contacts: Daryl
Kimball, (202) 277-3478 or Paul
Kerr, (202) 463-8270 x102
(Washington, D.C.): In a possible breakthrough, the
United States, North Korea, and China will hold direct talks in
Beijing later this month to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear program,
according to press reports today. The months-long crisis began when
the United States stated in October that North Korea admitted to
a covert nuclear weapons program and has deteriorated to the point
that North Korea announced its withdrawal from the nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty in January. Pyongyang is now on the verge of being able to
resume the separation of plutonium for building nuclear weapons.
The announcement of the trilateral talks is clearly a positive development,
but it leaves many unanswered questions about the substance of proposals
from each side, and whether they can lead to a verifiable dismantlement
of Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program and enhanced security
in the region.
During an April 15 interview with Arms Control Today, Undersecretary
of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton
described several salient elements of the Bush administration's
North Korea policy.
Bolton stated that the United States has no preconditions for multilateral
talks, but the administration expects the "complete verified
dismantlement of the North Korean nuclear weapons program"
before bilateral talks can proceed.
When asked about the administration's verification proposals, Bolton
explained that the administration is discussing the matter internally
and does not "have a final package at the moment."
Bolton further indicated that the Bush administration is considering
reviving a comprehensive political and economic package vis-à-vis
North Korea if it dismantles its nuclear program. He said, "I
think it's a possibility, but as I said-as was the case in October-
they have to have the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons program
before that becomes possible."
Bolton also stated that the administration has not specified any
particular actions that would trigger punitive actions against North
Korea, saying "we haven't declared anything to be a red line."
North Korea may be preparing to reprocess spent fuel rods on its
territory, which could yield enough material for five or six nuclear
weapons in roughly six months.
The entire interview is available on the Arms Control Association's
Web site at http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003_05/bolton_may03.asp.
Excerpts from the Bolton interview will also appear in the upcoming
May issue of Arms Control Today, which will also present
perspectives and proposals on how to address the North Korean nuclear
crisis, including:
- Michael Swaine of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
and Alan Romberg of the Henry L. Stimson Center on how negotiations
between the United States and North Korea can resolve the crisis.
- Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
on why penalizing North Korea for its pursuit of nuclear weapons
is important to discourage additional countries from illicitly
trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
- Bates Gill and Andrew Thompson of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies on China's perspective and future role in
resolving the crisis.
- Matake Kimiya of Japan's National Defense Academy on Japanese
attitudes toward North Korea and the potential effects of the
crisis on Japan's defense posture.
- Haksoon Paik of South Korea's Sejong Institute on Seoul's effort
to find a middle ground between Washington and Pyongyang.
# # #
The Arms Control Association is an independent, nonprofit membership
organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and
support for effective arms control policies to address security
threats posed by nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well
as conventional arms.
|
