Talks in the Tank

If Kim Jong Il had any hope to exploit the famous internecine divisions between the State Department and the Pentagon, that hope seems to have dimmed with this summary of the state of the six-party talks from the realist wing at Foggy Bottom:

In its “Performance and Accountability Report” for the financial year 2004, the U.S. State Department said that if no progress is made on the North Korean nuclear issue and the stalemate continues, it could call into question the purpose of bilateral or multilateral negotiations with Pyongyang.

The summary is as straightforward as it is bleak:

North Korean nuclear dispute (below target): The situation is continuously stalled and progress on ballistic missile talks is blocked. Political factors are disadvantageously working on future arms reduction efforts and expanding an export control regime.

Missile issue (below target): North Korea continued to export ballistic missile equipment and technology, but it did not export accurate medium-range ballistic missiles. Some illegal weapons and material transfers were blocked.

Getting North Korea to rejoin the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (below target): North Korea is claiming it has reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods and that it is continuing to increase its nuclear deterrent capability.

The report has a distinctly “one last chance” tone, much like what we’ve already heard here. Bush may have failed in the hopeless cause of forming a united front with South Korea, but at least he finally got his own State Department to join Team America.