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Latest U.S.-N. Korea Deal Is a 'Very Modest Step' Forward

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Gary Samore, Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair, Council on Foreign Relations
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor, CFR.org

October 14, 2008

Gary Samore, who was active in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea in the Clinton administration, says the latest agreement between the United States and North Korea, by which Washington removes North Korea from the list of nations sponsoring terrorists, and North Korea resumes dismantling its plutonium facilities and agrees to inspectors, is only a "very modest step forward" because it allows the next administration to carry on. "[W]e shouldn't kid ourselves: This is only the very beginning of the toughest part of the negotiations," says Samore, CFR's director of studies.

Over the weekend the United States removed North Korea from the list of countries viewed as state sponsors of terrorism, and in return North Korea now says it's going to resume allowing UN inspectors and American personnel into the Yongbyon nuclear facility and other declared nuclear sites. What's happened since the original agreement was announced earlier this year by President Bush?

North Korea and the United States have agreed on a verification protocol, which is intended to allow the United States, along with the other countries in the Six-Party Talks [South Korea, Japan, China, Russia], to verify North Korea's nuclear declaration. And, like most agreements with North Korea, it has some positive elements but also has a lot of ambiguity about implementation, and whether or not the implementation goes forward smoothly is going to be the big question.

What are the positive steps?

The North Koreans have agreed in principle to allow U.S. experts to take samples and other forensic evidence at North Korean nuclear facilities, and that's an essential step necessary to verify North Korea's nuclear declaration. In addition, the protocol allows for the United States to visit so-called undeclared sites by mutual consent-that is, if the North Koreans agree.

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.