Bush, McCain, Obama, and Appeasement

In the wake of Bush's "appeasement" comment, Senator Joe Biden has accused President Bush of currently conducting the same international policy with North Korea that he and McCain condemn Obama for proposing to conduct with other "evil" countries like Iran. On May 16, the same day as Bush's "appeasement" comment, his administration announced a deal with North Korea to send 500,000 tons of food to the "evil" nation.

However, there is a distinct difference between Obama's proposed foreign policy and President Bush's relations with North Korea. In order to understand Bush's relations with North Korea, we have to take a brief tour through lost-memory lane.

In 1994, the US and North Korea signed the Framework Agreement. The agreement arranged the following:

* North Korea agreed to freeze its existing nuclear program under enhanced IAEA safeguards.
* Both sides agreed to cooperate to replace the D.P.R.K.'s graphite-moderated reactors for related facilities with light-water (LWR) power plants.
* The two sides agreed to move toward full normalization of political and economic relations.
* Both sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
* Both sides agreed to work together to strengthen the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

By the end of the Clinton administration, Washington had a decent relationship with North Korea. According to the Framework Agreement, Washington was engaged in easing sanctions and embargoes against North Korea. At the time, Washington and North Korea worked towards a peace agreement to officially end the Korean War.

The Framework Agreement included a provision for the US, Japan, and South Korea (under KEDO) to build two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea for a non-military energy program. According to Globalsecurity.org, "they would discharge about 500 kilograms of reactor-grade plutonium a year in highly radioactive spent fuel." Until the completion of the reactors, the US, Japan, and South Korea were to be responsible for providing North Korea with the oil necessary for its energy needs.

After Bush took office, the US, Japan, and South Korea argued about how to fund North Korea's oil needs. In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush named North Korea, Iraq, and Iran as the Axis of Evil. Because KEDO wouldn't complete the reactors until 2005, the Framework Agreement did not require nuclear inspectors until then. In August of 2002, Bush insisted that North Korea immediately admit inspectors. On September 12, Bush presented his case against Iraq to the UN Security Council. In October, Bush sent James Kelly to Pyongyang, where he accused Kim Jong Il of harboring a uranium-enriching program and immediately broke the Framework Agreement. This is the same month that Congress authorized the use of force in Iraq. Bush stopped sending oil to North Korea by mid November, which freed up funds for invading Iraq.

James Kelly's uranium-enriching accusations turned out to be false, but they resulted in North Korea's plutonium-production capabilities. In response to the loss of oil, North Korea expelled the IAEA's surveillance equipment, as well as began repairs and shipping fuel rods to the Yongbyon plant for the production of plutonium, all before the end of the 2002.

A 2003 article in the NY Times reveals that the Bush administration had initiated a campaign to misrepresent the Framework Agreement: "Ms. Rice has criticized the Clinton administration's 1994 nuclear freeze agreement with North Korea for giving the country fuel oil before it dismantled anything." In other words, the Bush administration argued that the Framework Agreement had to do with the dismantling of nuclear reactors, not with their construction.

In January of 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In February, North Korea claimed it had completed the activation of its nuclear facility and dramatically tested a missile-- by firing it into the sea between South Korea and Japan. That same month, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations General Assembly to authorize an invasion of Iraq. The US invaded Iraq on March 18. North Korea repeated its dramatic testing in March and began processing nuclear fuel rods in April, but acknowledged it was not too late for negotiation "if the US is ready to make a bold switchover in its Korea policy for a settlement of the nuclear issue."

By the end of April, 2003, North Korea announced that it had nuclear weapons. In December, North Korea said it was willing to "freeze" its nuclear-weapons program in exchange for concessions. However, the Bush administration rejected North Korea's offer and insisted that North Korea has to dismantle its nuclear program before the US would negotiate.

In 2006, North Korea successfully tested its nukes in an underground facility.

In 2007, North Korea engaged in six-party talks, agreed to dismantle its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy aid, but insisted that it needed access to the $25 million first. Russia facilitated the transfer of funds, and after North Korea received its first oil shipment, North Korea announced that it had shut down its reactor. International inspectors confirmed the report. Before the end of 2006, US envoy Christopher Hill inspected the facility and acknowledged that the dismantling process was "going well."

In other words, Joe Biden was wrong. The Bush administration's current shipment of 500,000 tons of food to North Korea is not the same as Obama's proposed foreign policy of open dialogue with even our enemies. It's the consequence of his avoidance of such dialogue.

If we believe the accusation that North Korea supplied Iran with missiles, which the Iranian Guard then supplied to Iraqi insurgents to kill US soldiers, we all should wish that President Bush had opened dialogue with "evil" countries. We would have lost fewer American soldiers' lives, and we'd all be safer as a result of it.