U.S. House candidates split on N. Korea

Hirono urges direct talks; Hogue supports the Bush approach

As the international community continues to focus on how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons program, the two candidates vying to represent Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House say they would support different strategies in dealing with the rogue nation.

While Democrat Mazie Hirono urges direct one-on-one talks with North Korea, Republican Bob Hogue says he believes in trying to get more nations involved.

Both candidates outlined their positions on North Korea in separate meetings with Star-Bulletin reporters and editors recently.

North Korea and leader Kim Jong Il have drawn international condemnation since the announcement this month that the country had successfully conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon. The U.N. has imposed financial and weapons sanctions in a move that the North Korean government has characterized as "a declaration of war."

The United States and other nations trying to persuade North Korea to give up its atomic program have engaged in a flurry of high-level diplomatic visits.

"I think we should've been having direct negotiations," Hirono said. "I don't see how we can seek to resolve or to come to understanding of anything if we are not at the table."

She also criticized the Bush administration for what she called "incompetence and unawareness" on international issues and diplomacy.

"I don't think the Bush administration has provided good leadership in just about any diplomatic front that we can talk about," she said.

Hogue was more supportive of the administration's efforts, saying he believes the federal government "is taking the right response right now."

"It would make sense at this point, I think, to involve all the people of the region, not just the United States on a one-on-one basis," Hogue said. "I think that more reasoned response would be to get and keep the world community involved. That makes sense to me."

Among the harshest critics of the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts is Democratic U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who is seeking re-election to the 1st Congressional District against political newcomer Richard Noah Hough.

Abercrombie called it "absurd" for the administration to refrain from one-on-one talks with Pyongyang.

"Our sole contact with North Korea," said Abercrombie, "has been the president characterizing them as part of the 'Axis of Evil' and a steady drumbeat of pop-psychological characterizations of its leader as either crazy or almost a cartoon character -- as if that suffices for diplomatic outreach.

"What's required, of course, is dialogue: Try and figure out how you accommodate this."

Hough, a retired Army major who now works as a defense industry consultant in Hawaii, also agreed that the U.S. government should be involved in direct negotiations.

"I think that unilateral talks are not something that could be viewed as a negative," said Hough, who admits to disagreeing with the Bush administration over several policy stances. "We should be talking to North Korea, we should've been talking to them all along.

"To cut off diplomatic ties, simply for a disagreement position, is unacceptable."

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