ShiningIce
3rd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2002
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CRAWFORD, Texas - Stung by North Korea (news - web sites)'s defiance, the White House denounced the expulsion of U.N. nuclear inspectors Friday but said military action was not being contemplated to counter Pyongyang's gathering nuclear ambitions.
"We seek a peaceful resolution," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said as President Bush (news - web sites) vacationed at his nearby ranch. "I think for now we need to let the discussions happen with our friends and allies about the next steps that we take."
An initial step may be to send Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to the region next month to encourage allies to increase diplomatic pressure on North Korea, U.S. officials said. South Korea (news - web sites)'s new government, which joined the White House in denouncing Pyongyang on Friday, is a key to Bush's strategy.
The administration is also quietly encouraging the U.N. monitoring agency, whose inspectors were expelled by North Korea, to take the crisis to the Security Council. U.S. officials said they were not campaigning for the move overtly because they fear backlash from allies already dubious about Bush's use of the United Nations (news - web sites) to pursue a tough line against Iraq's Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
As U.S. officials privately voiced misgivings that the current approach may not be working, Bush's foreign policy team met at the White House to discuss limited options. Democrats stepped up their criticism, with a key senator accusing Bush of ignoring North Korea too long.
"What happened in North Korea today is predictable and totally anticipated based on this administration's complete avoidance of a responsible approach to North Korea in over a year and a half," said Sen. John Kerry (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., who plans to challenge Bush for re-election.
When he came into office, Bush put the brakes on U.S.-North Korean relations because he said Kim Jong Il's government could not be trusted. The relationship spiraled downward when Pyongyang acknowledged in October that it had a secret nuclear weapons program.
"It is the absence of diplomacy. It is the absence of common sense ... that has brought this on," Kerry said in a telephone interview.
In a provocative challenge of Bush's hard-nose policy, North Korea expelled nuclear inspectors Friday and announced it will reactivate a laboratory that the United States claims can produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for several atomic bombs.
The Koreans have said they were restarting the reactor to generate electricity.
"These recent actions are not designed to produce electricity, but rather to advance North Korea's nuclear weapons capability," McClellan told reporters.
The sentiments were echoed by South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, who said, "Whatever North Korea's rationale is in taking such actions, they are not beneficial to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, nor are they helpful for its own safety and prosperity."
North Korea's action escalated tensions over Pyongyang's plan to unfreeze nuclear facilities shut down in a deal with the United States in 1994. It also underscores dramatically different approaches that Bush has taken with North Korea, Iraq and Iran — the nations he called an "axis of evil."
While he is prepared to go to war early next year to disarm Saddam's Iraq, the president is determined to curb North Korea's ambitions through diplomatic pressure, aides said.
The strategy reflects that North Korea has not been as hostile as Iraq in recent years, as well as the grim reality that Pyongyang could respond to a U.S. attack with massive force against South Korea and Japan, aides said. In the path of an assault on South Korea would be 37,000 American troops patrolling the truce line from the 1950-53 Korean War.
In the White House meeting, Bush's foreign policy advisers debated how far the reclusive Kim's government was willing to go in what the Americans view as an effort to extract concessions from the United States. The Clinton administration gave North Korea fuel oil in exchange for promises in 1994 to end its nuclear program.
Ruling out another deal, McClellan said, "Let me make it clear that we will not negotiate in response to threats or broken commitments."
Some U.S. officials say they believe North Korea may be bluffing. While some argue Pyongyang believes more nuclear weapons gives it more international standing, others note that the secretive North Korean government is being very deliberate and very public with its actions at the power plant. That suggests, they say, the goal is to increase public pressure on the United States.
Officials also point out that the laboratory has not been activated and, more importantly, its spent fuel rods have not been removed in an effort to produce bomb-making material.
Even if North Korea should take those two steps, it is unclear whether Bush would consider attacking the laboratory or taking other military action, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials said several months or longer would be required before the North Koreans could extract enough plutonium from the rods to make a weapon.
The president already has stopped U.S.-backed fuel shipments, officials said, and seeking deeper economic sanctions could create a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished nation.
In another sign of tension, the U.S.-U.N. command overseeing the 49-year cease-fire between North and South Korea accused the North Koreans of placing light machine guns inside the demilitarized zone between the two countries six times during the last month.
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"We seek a peaceful resolution," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said as President Bush (news - web sites) vacationed at his nearby ranch. "I think for now we need to let the discussions happen with our friends and allies about the next steps that we take."
An initial step may be to send Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to the region next month to encourage allies to increase diplomatic pressure on North Korea, U.S. officials said. South Korea (news - web sites)'s new government, which joined the White House in denouncing Pyongyang on Friday, is a key to Bush's strategy.
The administration is also quietly encouraging the U.N. monitoring agency, whose inspectors were expelled by North Korea, to take the crisis to the Security Council. U.S. officials said they were not campaigning for the move overtly because they fear backlash from allies already dubious about Bush's use of the United Nations (news - web sites) to pursue a tough line against Iraq's Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
As U.S. officials privately voiced misgivings that the current approach may not be working, Bush's foreign policy team met at the White House to discuss limited options. Democrats stepped up their criticism, with a key senator accusing Bush of ignoring North Korea too long.
"What happened in North Korea today is predictable and totally anticipated based on this administration's complete avoidance of a responsible approach to North Korea in over a year and a half," said Sen. John Kerry (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., who plans to challenge Bush for re-election.
When he came into office, Bush put the brakes on U.S.-North Korean relations because he said Kim Jong Il's government could not be trusted. The relationship spiraled downward when Pyongyang acknowledged in October that it had a secret nuclear weapons program.
"It is the absence of diplomacy. It is the absence of common sense ... that has brought this on," Kerry said in a telephone interview.
In a provocative challenge of Bush's hard-nose policy, North Korea expelled nuclear inspectors Friday and announced it will reactivate a laboratory that the United States claims can produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for several atomic bombs.
The Koreans have said they were restarting the reactor to generate electricity.
"These recent actions are not designed to produce electricity, but rather to advance North Korea's nuclear weapons capability," McClellan told reporters.
The sentiments were echoed by South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, who said, "Whatever North Korea's rationale is in taking such actions, they are not beneficial to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, nor are they helpful for its own safety and prosperity."
North Korea's action escalated tensions over Pyongyang's plan to unfreeze nuclear facilities shut down in a deal with the United States in 1994. It also underscores dramatically different approaches that Bush has taken with North Korea, Iraq and Iran — the nations he called an "axis of evil."
While he is prepared to go to war early next year to disarm Saddam's Iraq, the president is determined to curb North Korea's ambitions through diplomatic pressure, aides said.
The strategy reflects that North Korea has not been as hostile as Iraq in recent years, as well as the grim reality that Pyongyang could respond to a U.S. attack with massive force against South Korea and Japan, aides said. In the path of an assault on South Korea would be 37,000 American troops patrolling the truce line from the 1950-53 Korean War.
In the White House meeting, Bush's foreign policy advisers debated how far the reclusive Kim's government was willing to go in what the Americans view as an effort to extract concessions from the United States. The Clinton administration gave North Korea fuel oil in exchange for promises in 1994 to end its nuclear program.
Ruling out another deal, McClellan said, "Let me make it clear that we will not negotiate in response to threats or broken commitments."
Some U.S. officials say they believe North Korea may be bluffing. While some argue Pyongyang believes more nuclear weapons gives it more international standing, others note that the secretive North Korean government is being very deliberate and very public with its actions at the power plant. That suggests, they say, the goal is to increase public pressure on the United States.
Officials also point out that the laboratory has not been activated and, more importantly, its spent fuel rods have not been removed in an effort to produce bomb-making material.
Even if North Korea should take those two steps, it is unclear whether Bush would consider attacking the laboratory or taking other military action, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials said several months or longer would be required before the North Koreans could extract enough plutonium from the rods to make a weapon.
The president already has stopped U.S.-backed fuel shipments, officials said, and seeking deeper economic sanctions could create a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished nation.
In another sign of tension, the U.S.-U.N. command overseeing the 49-year cease-fire between North and South Korea accused the North Koreans of placing light machine guns inside the demilitarized zone between the two countries six times during the last month.
___
