Nope, No Axis Here

The New York Times, quoting high-level administration sources, is making the connection between U.S. law enforcement measures, the PSI, and diplomacy you’ve only seen here up to now:

MOSCOW, Oct. 23 – The Bush administration is expanding what it calls “defensive measures” against North Korea, urging nations from China to the former Soviet states to deny overflight rights to aircraft that the United States says are carrying weapons technology, according to two senior administration officials.

At the same time, the officials said, the administration is accelerating an effort to place radiation detectors at land crossings and at airports throughout Central Asia. The devices are intended to monitor the North Koreans and the risk that nuclear weapons material could be removed from facilities in the former Soviet states.

The new campaign was speeded up this summer after a previously undisclosed incident in June, when American satellites tracked an Iranian cargo plane landing in North Korea. The two countries have a history of missile trade – Iran’s Shahab missile is a derivative of a North Korean design – and intelligence officials suspected the plane was picking up missile parts.

The plane in question eventually left without its cargo. John Bolton’s successor elaborates:

“We are taking a number of new steps – defensive measures – that are intended to provide protection against all aspects of the North Korean proliferation threat,” said Robert Joseph, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, who has been visiting former Soviet republics and other nations to secure commitments to halt flights like the one in June.

“These measures are necessary for our defense and the defense of our friends and allies,” said Mr. Joseph, regarded as an administration hawk on North Korea. He also said the measures “are independent of the diplomatic efforts that we are pursuing” with the North that also include China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. “We believe that they will reinforce the prospect for the success of those talks.”

Anyone want to guess who has concerns?

But the Asian allies are divided on that question. South Korea’s government, which is preparing for a visit by Mr. Bush next month, has been privately warning against taking steps that would aggravate North Korea. Arguing that “status quo isn’t working,” one senior administration official said this weekend that “we have to defend against illicit activity that harms America.”

Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats have been combing Central Asia bearing gifts, implying that China will only cooperate when the North Koreans are caught red-handed:

The new administration effort has three components, according to Mr. Joseph and other officials. The first is to block the sale of any bomb material or radioactive material from North Korea. The second is to beef up anti-proliferation efforts, including denying overflight rights.
. . . .

A third component of the effort is to step up “counterproliferation,” which involves preparing nations to counter chemical or biological weapons, and work out ways to defend against a missile attack. Japan, which has grown more hawkish on North Korea, has said it will join the American missile defense program, basing its anti-missile system on ships offshore. South Korea has declined, though it has long made use of the American-made Patriot system against short-range missiles.

One administration official cautioned that “some of these programs are new descriptions of older efforts, with more money in the pot.”

But while the administration has been taking steps to isolate North Korea since President Bush took office in 2001, the combination of the effort to deny overflight rights to the Iranian plane and other recent activities suggests that the effort is being reinvigorated. It is being spurred, officials say, by some in the administration who suspect the North’s willingness to sign a “statement of principles” to give up its weapons was a stalling tactic. So, using a series of exisiting powers and a new executive order signed by President Bush, the Treasury Department charged a bank based in Macao, Banco Delta Asia, with money-laundering, saying it was aiding North Korea’s black-market dealings. The bank has denied the charge.

This summer, American officials seized $2 million in counterfeit bills, which it said were produced in the North, and a man linked to the Irish Republican Army was arrested in Belfast, charged with trafficking in fake currency produced in the North.

If there is any chance for these negotiations to work, it will require us to put the fear of God into North Korea. But at this rate, with the administration having wasted so much time, Kim Jong Il may simply try to stall for the next election cycle.