ABCNEWS.com October 17, 2002
North Korea Admits to Nuclear Program
At a time when the Bush administration threatens to attack Iraq, the United States now confronts a nuclear crisis in Asia.
Washington said today that North Korea has admitted to running a secretive nuclear weapons program that is much more advanced than anything Iraq is suspected of having.
North Korea's acknowledgement that it has been secretly developing nuclear weapons for several years is in violation of an agreement with the United States. The possibility that one of the most repressive countries in the world has or is about to have a nuclear bomb has made a dangerous situation even more dangerous.
This came as a huge surprise to the Bush administration. As a result, Washington has cut off all diplomatic contact with the secretive nation and is in urgent consultation with allies.
Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, told ABCNEWS tonight that North Korean officials have a decision to make. "They cannot pursue nuclear weapons by backdoor means. They cannot continue their proliferation of missile technology around the world. This is no way to re-enter the international community," she told Nightline's Ted Koppel.
The revelation means that North Korea, which already has a huge conventional-war capability, may now have a significant nuclear program as well.
"That is the assessment of the intelligence community," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today in a Pentagon briefing. "I believe they have a small number of nuclear weapons."
Puzzled by Pyongyang
American officials thought a 1994 accord with North Korea had halted nuclear weapons production, but in meetings earlier this month, which the White House has just disclosed, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly confronted the North Koreans with disturbing new evidence.
"Our analysts became convinced . that North Korea was pursuing a covert, secret, uranium enrichment program," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
A U.S. official who was at the meetings said the North Koreans at first denied the accusation, calling it "slanderous" and a "complete fabrication."
Then, the next day, everything changed. The official said the North Koreans became "belligerent," telling the Americans, "We have the uranium program . and more."
"We know that [North] Korea is known to have a large chemical weapons programs," said John Pike of Globalsecurity.org, a watchdog organization focusing on national security policy. "It's believed to have a significant biological weapons program. And so basically all of the things that are suspected about Iraq are known about North Korea."
But the administration is still baffled as to why North Korea is doing this at a time when relations were starting to improve.
"I can't believe the only reason they told us this was in order to put it in our face," said Robert Gallucci, the dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a former special envoy to North Korea in the Clinton administration. "I can't believe that there isn't a plan of some kind that the North Koreans would like to get somewhere and get something out of this capability."
North Korea's missiles are capable of hitting Japan and possibly further.
Examining the Differences
The Bush administration has known for 13 days of North Korea's defiant admission that it has a secret weapons program - but President Bush and his team kept it quiet.
The president did not say a single word about North Korea today while campaigning, which was part of a deliberate strategy to downplay the issue.
Top officials acknowledged the contrast with Iraq could not be more striking.
"Iraq has unique characteristics that distinguish it," Rumsfeld said today. "And that suggests that it has nominated itself for special attention because of the breadth of what they're doing."
What makes Iraq unique, the administration argues, is that it has launched several aggressive wars and - alone among nations - repeatedly used weapons of mass destruction.
"There's not one policy that fits all," said Boucher. "Each situation has to be dealt with on its own. We want to deal with this situation peacefully with regard to North Korea."
Potential Catastrophe
One reason why is the Bush administration taking a peaceful approach in this case is that an attack on North Korea, which has a million-man army along the border with the South, would carry terrible risks.
"If there was a war with North Korea, we would win that war, but it would be a catastrophic war and literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of people would die in the process," said Wendy Sherman, a former Clinton administration official and North Korea policy coordinator.
Still, when Bush included North Korea in his "axis of evil" speech, it was a sign the administration intended to confront the regime - sooner or later.
"I think what they're doing is hoping that they will be able to contain the problem that North Korea represents until such time as they can turn to that problem in a more concrete way," said Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and former assistant secretary of defense.
Administration officials say they are considering all options but their first task is to consult close allies in the region and the world before they go to the U.N. Security Council.
ABCNEWS' Martha Raddatz and Terry Moran in Washington contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2002 ABCNEWS.com
