South Korea Still Trying to Undercut U.S. Position in Nuke Talks

Six nations are currently in talks over the nuclear weapons possessed by one of them.

North Korea, whose recent acquisition of nuclear weapons has raised such a ruckus probably acquired them during the 1990s. The acquistion was years in the making. It began with the procurement of a small amount of plutonium from the Soviet Union, with the North assuring the latter of its exclusively peaceful intentions. Later, after it had built a reactor in which to use and enrich the plutonium, other nations began to express concern that North Korea’s use may not have been as peaceful as it appeared. North Korea continued to assure the world of its peaceful intentions by signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and later, after some initial recalcitrance, accepting the NPT safeguards regime.

The rest is history. Suffice to say, North Korea’s assurances that its nuclear ambitions are for peaceful purposes only are of dubious value. This initially “peaceful” program is the reason we are having six-party talks.

What is the world to believe when North Korea now insists on keeping its strictly peaceful nuclear programs? Apparently, that depends on the gullibility of the listener. The United States insists that North Korea cannot be trusted with nuclear materials, period. This week, even China creates the appearance of pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons programs:

Another official at the talks told the paper Hu was making “several moves,” a hint that the Chinese president has been stepping up pressure on Kim Jong-il through other channels since talks went into recess. The paper added that some believe President Hu wants to make the best use of his nation’s diplomacy toward the United States ahead of his visit to the country next month.

Treat that with extreme skepticism.

No word on whether the particular issue of “peaceful” nuclear energy came up, although it’s at least promising to see China appearing to pressure the party that caused the problem in the first place. All the more reason to be baffled by this:

Ban “will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and try to persuade the U.S., which will not permit North Korea to use nuclear power peacefully, so that a joint statement can be concluded” when the talks come back from recess, a Foreign Ministry official said.

It’s too bad we don’t know more about China’s position. It’s entirely possible that China’s position is closer to the U.S. position than South Korea’s, although it’s more likely that each covers the other, and both cover the North Koreans.

South Korea simply doesn’t recognize this as a vital and serious security concern for the United States homeland. If China takes refuge in South Korea’s apathy and ambivalence, we will have the sort of diplomatic climate that breeds unilateral action.