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Analysis: Gauging Pyongyang's Missed Deadline

Council on Foreign Relations

January 22, 2008
Author: Jayshree Bajoria

The international agreement to denuclearize North Korea suffered a setback after Pyongyang missed an end-of-2007 deadline to make a full disclosure of its nuclear activities. Washington and its partners in the Six-Party Talks with North Korea now face another round of challenging diplomacy to try to put the agreement back on course. The Bush administration tried to remain upbeat despite criticism from within and outside the government. Its principle negotiator in the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said on his recent trip to the region there is no new deadline (VOA) for Pyongyang to make a full disclosure of its nuclear activities.

The sensitivity of the issue in Washington was apparent. Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, said Pyongyang is not serious about disarming (CNN) in a timely manner. But this prompted a rebuke from the State Department (AP), which said his comments “certainly don't represent the views of the administration.” Meanwhile, the communist state has reverted to tough language. A recent statement from North Korea’s foreign ministry claimed it fulfilled all its commitments (KCNA) and accused its Six-Party partners, including the United States, of failing to provide promised economic incentives.

The February 2007 agreement, like past deals on Pyongyang's nuclear program, promised energy aid and diplomatic and security guarantees if North Korea abandons its nuclear arsenal. Since the North agreed to demilitarize its nuclear program, it has shut down its main plutonium reactor, at Yongbyon, but among the major unresolved issues is whether the North has developed a parallel uranium-based bomb program. Pyongyang denies such a program exists and its state-owned news agency KCNA continues to heighten the threat level, citing accelerated U.S. aggression toward North Korea.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.