"Bush Administration Diplomacy?"

Thu Jun 26, 8:06 AM ET

President Bush on Thursday lifted trade sanctions against North Korea and moved to remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."

The announcement at the White House came after North Korea handed over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear work to Chinese officials on Thursday, fulfilling a key step in the denuclearization process.

Bush called the declaration a positive step along a long road to get the nation to give up its nuclear weapons. Yet, he remained wary of the regime, which has lied about its nuclear work before. And North Korea's declaration, received six months late, falls short of what the administration once sought, leaving it open to criticism from those who want the U.S. to take an even tougher stance against the regime.

"We will trust you only to the extent you fulfill your promises," Bush said in the Rose Garden. "I'm pleased with the progress. I'm under no illusions. This is the first step. This isn't the end of the process. It is the beginning of the process."

Conservative Republicans — once Bush's closest allies in efforts to confront North Korea's nuclear aspirations — came out strongly against his decision to remove the regime from the terrorist list. But with only 45 days until the change takes effect, there appears to be little that frustrated lawmakers can do. To block the North's removal, opponents would have to push legislation through a Congress controlled by Democrats who have largely favored the administration's efforts at engaging the North.

Specifically, Bush erased trade sanctions imposed on North Korea under the Trading With the Enemy Act, and notified Congress that, in 45 days, it intends to take North Korea off the State Department list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

"If North Korea continues to make the right choices it can repair its relationship with the international community ... If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and its partners in the six-party talks will act accordingly," Bush said.

The declaration, about 60 pages of documentation, is the result of long-running negotiations the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia have been having with Pyongyang. In the next 45 days — the congressionally mandated waiting period for removing North Korea from the terrorism list — the six parties will agree on how best to verify what the regime has declared. The North Koreans have said they will provide access to their facilities, including the reactor core and waste sites.

"They will make available documents, records, operating manuals and the like," said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. "They've already made available over 19,000 documents. And that the six parties will have access to personnel involved in their nuclear programs."

Hadley said that North Korea has "acknowledged in writing" that the U.S. and its negotiating partners have raised concerns about its enrichment activities and their suspected involvement with Syria. "They have not been out publicly denying, discounting these concerns," Hadley said, "so we're in a situation of not quite admitting, not denying but opening the door for us to be able to try to get greater clarity."

The president, insisting that the U.S. was not giving North Korea a free ride, also said the U.S. action would have little impact on North Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation. "It will remain one of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world," Bush said. All U.N. sanctions, for example, will remain in place.

Bush said the United States would monitor North Korea closely and "if they don't fulfill their promises, more restrictions will be placed on them."

Bush thanked all members of the six-party talks, but singled out Japan. Tokyo has argued that the U.S. decision to remove North Korea from the list of terrorist nations should be linked to progress in solving North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

"The United States will never forget the abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans," said Bush who called Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday to express U.S. concern about the issue. "We will continue to closely cooperate and coordinate with Japan and press North Korea to swiftly resolve the abduction issue."

     The Bush Administration is exercising sound and pragmatic diplomacy in dealing with a nation formerly in President Bush's "axis of evil". The diplomatic process of not threatening North Korea with attacks, economic sanctions and working with North Korea's regional neighbors and trade partners is yielding very positive results. In my opinion, the same diplomatic approach and format would yield equally positive results with Iran but the problem is the neoconservatives that have gained control of the Bush Administration don't want peace and stability in the Middle East. The neocons want war with Iran and Middle East instability. President Bush's embrace of the neoconservative ideology has ruined his Presidential legacy, despite the humanitarian good work he has done in Africa and in the North Korea negotiations. The best chance of future fruitful diplomacy lies in a Barack Obama Administration, in my opinion, because as of the moment, Obama has not been co-opted by the neoconservatives.

tags: bush  war on terror  north korea  barack obama  president  us  america  world  

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