Six Party Talks Commentary

In 1994 the Clinton Administration discovered that North Korea was about to remove fuel rods from its reactor at Yongbyon which if repossessed could be used to construct nuclear weapons. Alarmed the Clinton Administration considered taking military action against the North Koreans believing that the program must be contained. In South Korea the government of President Kim Young-sam sought to dis-sway the U.S. from taking unilateral military action against the North Koreans knowing it would lead to a new Korean war destroying not only the north but the south as well, a long with the south's vibrant economy.


Even though the Clinton Administration believed that North Korea's removal of the fuel rods possessed a threat to the stability of Northeast Asia a threat which should be contained they were able to take a step back and consider other options. Former President Jimmy Carter provided one of the options. He persuaded the Clinton Administration to send him on a diplomatic mission to North Korea in the hope that that he could negotiate a favorable outcome to the current crisis. President Carter met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and was able to negotiate what would become known as the Agreed Framework. Under the agreement the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was established. KEDO would under the agreement construct two light water reactors to replace those under construction and the one in that was already in use. They would also provide heavy fuel oil as part of the agreement until such time as the two new reactors were brought on line.

Dealing with North Korea is at best difficult usually bordering on the impossible because you can never be sure that their stated goals or positions will remain the same. Negotiations have taken place in which those representing the North have had no power to implement any agreements that might be reached or have the ability to contact those who do. For all of that the countries of Northeast Asia have continued to deal with the North Koreans at various levels when they had every reason not to.
Japan continued to have government to government contacts with the North Koreans even though they have test fired missiles with flight paths that took them over Japanese territory and kidnapped Japanese citizens.

South Korea which has had some real problems with the North in the past has never cut-off contact. Even though the North Koreans have made military incursions into the South, kidnapped an estimated 3,000 South Korean citizens, assassinated defectors in the South and have been involved in terrorist attacks against South Korean interests.

So after George Bush is anointed President of the United States by your Supreme Court; as one would expect the new Bush Administration's foreign policy will take a different tact from that of President Clinton's. So opposite in fact that diplomatic engagement seems to have been thrown on the trash heap of history. George Bush's State of the Union address in January of 2002 reveals just how bellicose, arrogant and blinded they are about how one views the world. They see the world in strict black and white, good and evil terms which would be fine if that was how the world really was. During the speech he reveals that North Korea, Iran and Iraq belong to an Axis of Evil and cannot be dealt with through diplomacy they must be ignored. Which is exactly what they do with North Korea for almost 2 years after the Agreed Framework falls apart in 2003 with the revelation that the North Koreans have started reprocessing nuclear fuel from their reactor. (There had been little or no contact between the two governments even before this happened)

When the Six Party Talks begin little is accomplished except for each side accusing the other of not negotiating in good faith. Even when an agreement is reached in the fall of 2005 it dies even before it can be implemented. 2006 proves to be no better than 2005 in terms of reaching any type of agreement on North Korea's nuclear programme. On July 4 North Korea test fires a series of missiles which land in various parts of the Pacific ocean. Then in October North Korea detonates an underground nuclear device to prove to the world they do indeed have nuclear weapons.
Six Party Talks resumed in December of last year with further talks held between the two parties in Berlin this past January.

Two days ago in Beijing a preliminary agreement was reached between all parties on the future of North Korea's nuclear programme.

A day after the accord was brokered, requiring the North to shut its main nuclear reactor in return for food and fuel assistance, the South Korean government invited North Korea to resume ministerial talks suspended after its nuclear test last October. Seoul announced that officials from both sides had agreed to meet Thursday in Kaesong, just north of the demilitarized zone.

Is there in any difference between the agreement now in place and the one negotiated 1994 with the Clinton Administration? Very little.

For all of the Bush Administrations pronouncements concerning this issue. Like their unwillingness to participate in direct talks with North Korea. Naming them as a member of the Axis of Evil. Freezing of their bank accounts in Macao, accusing President Clinton of rewarding bad behaviour, this administration just reached agreement with the North Koreans that as stated takes this issue right back to 1994 and the Agreed Framework thanks to six years of arrogance and stupidity by the Bushies. When if they had just done this in the beginning North Korea would probably not possess nuclear weapons today.