John Bolton: Now Is No Time to Downplay North Korea
Yesterday, North Korea declared all its political and military agreements with the South “dead” — the latest in a string of confrontational moves taken by Pyongyang against Seoul and the U.S. In the past few weeks, the North confirmed it possessed enough plutonium for four to five nuclear warheads; threatened to retain its nuclear weapons until America withdraws its nuclear protection from the South; denounced the appointment of Seoul’s new unification minister as “an open provocation”; and proclaimed that a routine South Korean military exercise had so inflamed tensions that “a war may break out any time.”
The Associated Press concluded from all this that North Korea “sounded open to new ideas to defuse nuclear-tinged tensions.” Some State Department quarters will warmly receive that analysis; a senior careerist at State once called earlier North Korean provocations “a desperate cry for help.” Others will say Kim Jong Il just wants attention, that these moves are simply a “coming out” exercise after his recent illness.
Unfortunately, early signs are that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is falling prey to such logic and downplaying the significance of Pyongyang’s nuclear program. It may well be that the Obama administration wants to emphasize domestic economic issues and limit foreign affairs priorities to the Arab-Israeli conflict. But neglecting North Korea is a dangerous gamble with very high stakes.
Most troubling is Mrs. Clinton’s unwillingness to acknowledge North Korea’s uranium-enrichment efforts. In her confirmation hearing, she said these efforts were “never quite verified.” Although we know precious little about the North’s progress, including how much weapons-grade uranium may have been produced, Mrs. Clinton cast doubt on whether uranium enrichment was a serious subject at all. Pressed on this point on Jan. 23 at State’s daily briefing, the department spokesman said “we don’t know” whether such a program exists.