White House Sends Mixed Signals on Upcoming Regional Talks on North Korea's Nuclear Program

Interview with journalist Tim Shorrock, conducted by Scott Harris

North Korea and Washington announced Aug. 1 that after a ten-month deadlock, the two nations have agreed to conduct regional talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program which will include representatives of South Korea, Russia, China and Japan. North Korea's government says it dropped its previous insistence on bilateral negotiations with the U.S. because the direct talks it sought will be an integral part of the group discussion expected to begin in Beijing in early September.

George W. Bush came into office openly hostile to a 1994 agreement between the U.S. and North Korea, which provided western energy assistance to the impoverished nation in exchange for a pledge from leader Kim Jong II to freeze his government's effort to develop nuclear weapons. North Korea admitted to maintaining a covert nuclear program last year only after U.S. officials confronted them with evidence that they were in violation of the agreement. But Pyongyang placed the blame on the U.S. -- which labeled North Korea as part of an "Axis of Evil" -- for taking steps which forced them to nullify the accord.

Critics of the Bush administration have noted the very different approaches it has taken in dealing with North Korea and Iraq. A war was launched against Baghdad on the allegation that the nation possessed weapons of mass destruction, which thus far cannot be found, whereas the path toward negotiations remain open with Pyongyang, a nation that openly states it has several nuclear weapons and the capacity to build more. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist Tim Shorrock, who has reported widely on Asian affairs. He examines the prospects that the upcoming talks could succeed in defusing a crisis which threatens to ignite conflict on the Korean peninsula and a new regional nuclear arms race.

Related links

"A Dangerous Game in Korea," by Tim Shorrock, The Nation, Jan. 27, 2003

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