Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=12/25/02

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR

NUMBER=6-12767

BYLINE=TEDDIE WEYR/FRED COOPER

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

TELEPHONE=619-3335

INTRO: North Korea's confirmation last Sunday that it has dismantled monitoring cameras at its nuclear sites and cut seals on facilities holding eight-thousand nuclear fuel rods is the subject of concerned editorials in newspapers across the United States. The editorial writers condemn North Korea for breaching the agreement it signed in 1994 to forgo its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid, but there is disagreement over how the Bush administration should react. Here with a sampling is V-O-A's ____________________.

TEXT: The Boston Globe says in an editorial (published Tuesday) that the Bush administration should reconsider its insistence that it will not negotiate with North Korea unless Pyongyang meets U-S demands to restore international safeguards at its nuclear complex at Yongbyon, and halts a uranium-enrichment program.

VOICE: North Korea has been saying for years that it wants negotiations with Washington leading to the signing of a non-aggression treaty. ... In October 2000, the number two man in North Korea's leadership, Vice-Marshal Jo Myong Rok, signed a joint communiqué in Washington containing this key statement of good intentions: 'Neither government would have hostile intent toward the other.'

(Mr.) Bush repudiated this objective in two costly blunders. During a March 2001 meeting with South Korea's President Kim Dae Jung, (Mr.) Bush rejected [his] ... 'sunshine policy' of phased reconciliation with North Korea. Then, a year later, (Mr.) Bush gratuitously included Pyongyang in his 'axis of evil' with Iraq and Iran. ... The Bush administration insists it wants a diplomatic solution, but will not negotiate with the North until the regime there first bows to all U-S demands.

This is a stance that threatens not only Asian security, but U-S relations with its key regional allies, South Korea and Japan. The way for (Mr.) Bush to untie the knot is to accept negotiations toward a non-aggression pact, provided that Pyongyang allows the International Atomic Energy Agency to reseal the fuel rods in their canisters and replace damaged surveillance cameras. North Korea's de-nuclearization -- indeed, that regime's absorption into a northeast Asian security framework -- can be bought cheaply. (Mr.) Bush would be foolish to continue refusing to pay the price.

TEXT: Thoughts from the Boston Globe. The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch agrees that "It should be possible to negotiate the non-aggression pact" that the North Korean leader wants, in exchange for an end to the nuclear program.

VOICE: The situation in North Korea has long defied both diplomatic and military solutions. After President Bill Clinton threatened war in 1994, former President Jimmy Carter brokered a deal under which North Korea agreed to end its nuclear program, in return for the West's agreement to provide fuel oil and power plants. It turns out that North Korea has been violating the agreement for some time, demonstrating the weakness of diplomacy.

But Mr. Bush's axis-of-evil campaign hasn't worked out well, either. Kim Jong Il is as evil as any dictator. But branding him as part of an axis of evil seems to have caused him to act more belligerently.

... The president-elect of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, seeks reunification. Mr. Bush should work with him, China, Japan and Russia to bring North Korea back to its senses.

TEXT: But an editorial in the Washington Post (Tuesday) says the Bush administration is right not to be pushed into what it calls "panicky" negotiations with North Korea nor should it offer Pyongyang "new incentives to do what it pledged to do in the first place:

VOICE: One of the world's most ruthless and terrorist-supporting gangster regimes just took a large step toward enhancing its nuclear arsenal -- and its ability to supply nuclear materials to other bad actors in the world. In response to this provocation, the Bush administration is justly resisting pressure to offer North Korea what would amount to rewards for its behavior.

TEXT: The Washington Post says the Bush administration is also right not to let North Korea distract it from its mission to disarm Iraq, but it adds neither can Iraq be permitted to distract Washington from the danger posed by North Korea. The paper's editorial concludes that ultimately, regime change in Pyongyang is likely to solve the nuclear proliferation challenge from North Korea over the long term.

In Ohio, The Cleveland Plain Dealer says the threat posed by North Korea cannot be ignored, and the Bush administration should be forceful in dealing with Pyongyang.

VOICE: ... the United States would be wise to assume the worst. ... The White House, intent on preparing for a conflict with Iraq, so far prefers to downplay the threat a nuclear North Korea poses. But in all probability the communist state will be able to produce nuclear weapons within a few months, a prospect the United States cannot possibly ignore. ... President ... Bush must make clear that North Korea's continued defiance of the United Nations will entail serious consequences.

... Is North Korea preparing for an actual attack, or merely trying to bully Western nations into reinstating oil shipments halted earlier this year? Either way, Pyongyang demonstrates disdain for the world community, and a fearsome affection for escalation. ... Bush must unequivocally, for the world to hear, (say) that a path of antagonism will result in grave consequences for North Koreans. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction may seem anachronistic in this modern age, but it may well be the only scenario Pyongyang understands.

TEXT: The Cleveland Plan Dealer.

Michigan's Detroit News says President Bush was right to place North Korea in the "axis of evil." It supports Mr. Bush's efforts to resolve the crisis and calls on the new South Korean president to back them.

VOICE: The administration's first reaction to (Mr.) Kim's nuclear policy has been diplomatic. In this area, newly elected South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun can help by lining up with efforts to get tough on the North. To do that, he'll have to tone down his criticism of U.S. policy when he takes office in February. However, a unified plan will put the squeeze on the North and won't reward (Mr.) Kim's rogue behavior with benefits.

TEXT: The Detroit News adds that while President Bush should use every diplomatic tool available, he should also order the Pentagon and C-I-A to develop a strategy to neutralize the North's ability to make nuclear weapons if diplomacy fails.

And with that comment, we conclude this sampling of U-S editorial opinion on the North Korean nuclear crisis.

NEB/TW/FC/RH