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Editorials
Saturday, July 29, 2000U.S., North Korean
envoys in historic talkIT was the highest level meeting of diplomats representing the United States and North Korea since the Korean War. As such, the hour-long talk of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her North Korean counterpart, Paek Nam-sun, at an Asian security forum in Bangkok had considerable symbolic importance.The issue: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the North Korean foreign minister held a meeting in Bangkok, the highest level meeting of the two countries since the Korean War.
But that was about the size of it. Albright described the meeting as "substantively modest." It was, however, a "historic step away from the sterility and hostility of the past."
Albright said afterward that she learned little from Paek about North Korea's reported intentions to curb its missile program.
In the meeting, she said, she "was direct in stating American concerns about the missile threat, nuclear weapons-related activity." But she elicited no information from Paek about an intriguing offer made recently by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to Russia's President Vladimir Putin to transform the North's missile program into peaceful efforts to launch satellites into space.
The secretary cautioned that she remained "realistic in expectations and fully committed to coordination with our allies." But she added, "I'm also somewhat more hopeful than before for the long-term stability on the Korean peninsula and throughout the region."
North Korea is currently on a charm offensive that began with the summit meeting in June between Kim Jong-il and South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung -- which has produced little thus far except a plan for extremely limited family reunions. And this week North Korea established diplomatic relations with New Zealand and Canada.
Earlier Pyongyang agreed to stop testing a long-range missile -- a 1998 test sent the missile soaring over Japan, alarming Tokyo -- in return for the United States lifting trade barriers. The North Korean missile program has been a concern in Washington and a justification for the development of a U.S. missile defense system.
Washington has tried to persuade Pyongyang to stop exporting missiles to Pakistan and the Middle East. But talks broke down recently when North Korea demanded $1 billion in compensation for every year it refrained from exporting missiles.
Before meeting Albright, Paek was asked about news reports that North Korea would dispatch a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss improving ties. The Americans have been seeking such an encounter, he said, "but the atmosphere is not ripe yet." North Korea first wants the United States to end economic sanctions and remove it from the list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism.
That's typical of the North Korean tactic of making threats and then exacting concessions before making or keeping commitments. The Albright-Paek meeting could be highly significant but as usual the North Koreans are keeping the world guessing as to what their intentions are.
Social Security tax cut
HOUSE Republicans gave their party something to cheer about going into their national convention by passing a tax cut for Social Security recipients -- one of the most militant of interest groups. The legislation would repeal an increase passed in 1993 as a deficit-reduction measure. It now goes to the Senate.
That 1993 bill, passed without a single Republican voting in favor, increased the portion of Social Security benefits subject to tax from 50 percent to 85 percent for individuals with incomes of more than $34,000 and couples with incomes of more than $44,000. The Republican measure, passed 265-159 this week with the aid of 52 Democrats -- including Hawaii Reps. Abercrombie and Mink -- would restore the 50 percent provision.
What made the vote particularly meaningful was the fact that Vice President Gore, in his role as president of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote for the 1993 deficit-reduction package that included the Social Security tax increase.
Republicans labeled the Social Security provision the "Gore Social Security Tax." House Speaker Dennis Hastert commented, "Unlike Mr. Gore, we don't think it's right for seniors who earn more than $34,000 per year to pay taxes on up to 85 percent of their Social Security benefits."
The increased tax affects about 9 million people; the number is expected to rise steeply along with the increase of seniors with higher incomes.
This is surely a popular proposal. The Democrats, recognizing its appeal, countered by offering a substitute that would have raised the threshold for the 85 percent of benefits tax to $80,000 for individuals and $100,000 for families. But the House soundly rejected the proposal, 256-169, voting mostly on partisan lines.
The Democratic alternative supposedly would cost $40 billion less over 10 years -- the bill that passed would cost $100 billion -- but this is election campaign time and what is going on in Congress has more to do with impressing the voters than passing sound legislation. And you couldn't expect the Republicans to pass up a chance to take a shot at Gore.
Besides, lots of people think Social Security benefits shouldn't be taxed at all.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
