Between the Stephens nomination and this, I’d say the Bush Administration has a congressional relations problem on its hands when it comes to Korea policy:
The Bush administration’s failure to fully brief Congress on North Korea and Syria has done more than jeopardize the relationship between our two branches of government. It has denied the administration the benefit of congressional support that could have ensured an agreement with North Korea that avoided needless risks, instead of one that may be rushed, ill-conceived, and dangerous.
Despite the administration’s disregard for Congress, we will continue to do our duty and weigh any agreement presented to us on its merits. However, if the Bush administration hopes to achieve anything of worth in the balance of its term, it must take immediate steps to repair its relationship with Congress. We believe there is still time, and we stand ready to work with the President but as full partners to advance the interests of our nation. [Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Peter Hoekstra in the Washington Times]Â
Wow. Read the whole thing yourself.
[...] For reasons that aren’t completely clear to me, Bush has paused, for now, the granting of unconditional concessions, most significantly on de-listing North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Maybe he’s finally come to his senses, but my best guess is that he’s run out of political capital. The key causes of that political bankruptcy were (a) the delayed revelations about the al-Kibar reactor and North Korea’s role in it, (b) the “Singapore Surrender” in which Hill and Rice agreed not to press for answers on uranium, proliferation, or actual nuclear weapons, and (c) what seemed very much like the imminent removal of North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and the lifting of other key sanctions, as early as yesterday. Now the administration says that’s not going to happen … yet:    “Our requirement for moving forward on delisting is a rigorous verification regime and a verification protocol, and until we get there I think we’ve been clear that delisting can’t go forward,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. [AFP] “At this point it is reasonable to say that [August 11th] probably will come and go without that happening,’’ Dennis Wilder, the National Security Council director for Asia, told reporters in Beijing today. “We are in discussions with the North. We continue to try to work with them on this question of a robust verification regime.’’ [….] [...]