“Bush Avoids Facing North Korea Nuclear Issue”

“Bush Avoids Facing North Korea Nuclear Issue”. March. 07, 2004 22:38. by Kwon-Heui Hong konihong@donga.com.

Senator John Kerry, the effective Democratic candidate for the U.S presidential election, argued that president George W. Bush backed away from solving the nuclear issue by choosing to attack Iraq, which was easier than tackling North Korea’s nuclear problem.

Senator Kerry indicated during an interview with the New York Times on Saturday March 6 that “it is because President Bush knew that you would have more than one million casualties in the first eight hours of a conflict with North Korea, whereas in Iraq you wouldn`t.”

Regarding the six-nation talks, Kerry said that “because the Bush administration realized that it had no choice but to negotiate, it used China, South Korea and Japan as a cover to try to get back to the negotiation table, even though they never intended to do it.” He added that “Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that they were going to continue talks, but the neo-cons (new conservatives) at the White house left him stranded.”

He criticized that “because the Bush administration did not pay continuous attention to North Korea from the beginning, it has resulted in them still avoiding the North Korean nuclear issue.” Kerry also said that “President Bush does not try to get involved in serious negotiations.”

In relation to negotiations with North Korea, Kerry emphasized that “even though China’s involvement is helpful, there are many issues between us (North Korea-U.S.) that do not include China and thus, one should not avoid bilateral negotiations.”

However, he also stressed that “North Korea should not doubt the seriousness of the U.S. on resolving the issue of nuclear proliferation.”