[ OUR OPINION ]
U.S. gains ground
in N. Korea talksTHE Bush administration has taken the important, positive step of softening its position in the nuclear stalemate with North Korea. The movement followed the North's offer in January to put its nuclear activities on hold in exchange for assurances of security and oil assistance. Although this week's six-nation talks ended without agreement, a resolution of the crisis appears promising in the weeks or months ahead.
THE ISSUE
Six-nation talks aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis ended with talk of progress.
The headway is a victory for moderate elements in the Bush administration that favor negotiation, in contrast with a Pentagon approach preferred by Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of isolating the regime of Kim Jong-il in hopes that it will collapse. Although the next round of talks has not been scheduled, a U.S. official said, "The process is moving along, but we're not ready to declare success."
The latest U.S. offer, an alteration of a proposal fashioned by South Korea, would give North Korea three months to fully disclose its nuclear program, submit to inspections and promise to begin dismantling its plutonium and uranium programs after a three-month period. In return, the United States would pledge not to attack North Korea and would not oppose shipments of heavy fuel oil to the North from Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, the other participants of the Beijing talks.
The shipment amounts would be about the same as that provided by the United States under a 1994 agreement until it confronted Pyongyang with evidence of its uranium program in late 2002. Under the new proposal, the United States would not be among the energy suppliers but would lift various economic sanctions that have been in place since the Korean War.
Such an agreement would require concessions from both sides' earlier positions. North Korea stated several months ago that expecting it to allow international inspections of nuclear facilities would be "as foolish as expecting a shower from clear sky." Likewise, President Bush had taken the hard-line approach of insisting that Pyongyang, which he included in the "axis of evil," eliminate its nuclear program before being provided international assistance. Anything short of that would be tantamount to blackmail, he asserted.
U.S. negotiators, led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, also dropped use of the term "complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement" of its nuclear program as the minimum requirement for the standoff to end. U.S. officials had said earlier that North Korea would have to agree to those terms, known by the initials C.V.I.D.
At the end of this week's talks, North Korea said it might test an atomic bomb, but a senior U.S. official in Beijing said "it was not phrased as a threat." That comment was contrary to comments by an official in Washington that the North's envoy had threatened an atomic test if the United States did not accept its conditions for a nuclear freeze. The contrasting statements illustrate the battling factions within the Bush administration.
Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has been critical of President Bush for failing to make a serious offer to the North Korean leader. The latest diplomacy consists of such an offer and Kerry should support it, dispelling any notion Kim might have that Bush's successor will provide a better deal.
