Wall Street Journal Cites Unmet Deadlines for North Korea

In an editorial titled “North Korea Time,” The Wall Street Journal criticized the international community for its indifference toward the unmet deadline for various issues related to North Korea on May 3.

The editorial pointed out, “It`s been two-and-a-half weeks since the 60-day deadline passed on April 14 for North Korea to comply with the first part of the nuclear accord reached in February, including shutting down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. But so far, no word from Pyongyang, and nothing from Beijing or Washington either. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both recently claimed their "patience" is not ‘endless,’ contrary to all available evidence.”

The article also criticized that even though U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had directed external audits on January 19 for all U.N. programs related to North Korea and gave a 90-day deadline, these also ended up in smoke amid the U.N. bureaucracy.

Officials in charge of the investigation were even not able to visit North Korea and went only so far to meet the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) officials in New York for 15 days. A full and external investigation directed by Secretary-General Ban ended up being conducted by U.N. auditors.

Even though the deadlines have not been met, U.N. auditors are declining interviews and Secretary-General Ban is keeping silent, the editorial criticized.

The article lamented that nobody was paying attention to what was going on, and that even Secretary-General Ban’s press secretary had given wrong answers about whether investigators visited North Korea.

It also pointed out in closing that, “Given the process so far, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il can be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that “the world has no interest in urging North Korea to keep its deadlines for implementation.”