North Korea 7-6-2006

 6, July 2006               North Korea

Once again the Bush Administration is chartering a reckless and extremely dangerous policy threatening North Korea with sanctions or military intervention to force it to abandon its nuclear program. It is precisely the white hot and insulting rhetoric by our policy makers that has precipitated the crisis.  Leon Sigal, author of "Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea" says that the Bush administration's policy on North Korea "provoked Kim Jong-il to accelerate nuclear arming and missile development."  The Clinton Administration was close to reaching an agreement in 2000 that would have effectively eliminated North Korea’s development, production and testing of ballistic missiles. The Bush Administration abruptly called off the negotiations and began huffing, puffing and threatening North Korea with a predicable outcome. Alarmed by the disdain for international law by the unprovoked attack on Iraq, North Korea accelerated its missile program to serve as a deterrent to US militarism. Our media and administration have been extremely critical of the Kim Jong-il’s decision to divert his country’s scant resources to bolster his defense arsenal while ignoring the basic needs of his people. Might not we accuse our government of following a similar policy?