June 15, 2004

Conflict Still Looms in Korean Peninsula

our years after the two Koreas held a landmark summit, their reconciliation efforts have taken a back seat to the international dispute over the North's nuclear ambitions - a standoff with no end in sight.

And even though a third round of six-nation talks aimed at ending the nuclear dispute is expected to begin next week in Beijing, the looming U.S. presidential election makes progress unlikely.

The November election has put North Korea in a wait-and-see mode in the belief it could get a better deal at the negotiating table if John Kerry prevails. North Korea sees President Bush as uncompromising and suspects U.S. policy would soften under his Democratic rival.

Two previous rounds of talks - both with Bush in the White House - have yielded few results beyond establishing the sharp differences between the two main adversaries, Pyongyang and Washington.
[Ooh, they just hate that being lumped in that "axis of evil!"--Jen]

By contrast the inter-Korean reconciliation process has plodded along since the summit on June 13-15, 2000, between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae-jung, the South Korean president who won a Nobel Peace Prize largely because of his campaign to engage the isolated North. The achievement, however, was marred by revelations that the North received illegal payoffs from the South in exchange for hosting the summit.

The South Koreans should know better than to bargain with Communists! (But they don't.)
Is it any wonder that we're taking some of our troops off the Korean border when they act like this?
The South Koreans can afford their own defense, have an adequate army of their own and have complained about the presence of our troops, so why not move them where they will be more appreciated?
This news story cites New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as a NorK negotiating expert--but I won't.
Richardson (Clintonista #8709) thinks we should talk nicer to the NorKs...
After all, it's not as if they had missiles that could reach the U.S.tipped with those "non-existent" nukes or anything.
Oops!