NYT op-ed: Solving the Korean Stalemate, by Jimmy Carter

[DeepModem Mom]

Op-Ed Contributor
Solving the Korean Stalemate, One Step at a Time
By JIMMY CARTER
Published: October 11, 2006
ATLANTA

IN 1994 the North Koreans expelled inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and were threatening to process spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, giving them the ability to produce nuclear weapons....

***

Responding to an invitation from President Kim Il-sung of North Korea, and with the approval of President Bill Clinton, I went to Pyongyang and negotiated an agreement under which North Korea would cease its nuclear program at Yongbyon and permit inspectors from the atomic agency to return to the site to assure that the spent fuel was not reprocessed. It was also agreed that direct talks would be held between the two Koreas.

The spent fuel (estimated to be adequate for a half-dozen bombs) continued to be monitored, and extensive bilateral discussions were held. The United States assured the North Koreans that there would be no military threat to them, that it would supply fuel oil to replace the lost nuclear power and that it would help build two modern atomic power plants, with their fuel rods and operation to be monitored by international inspectors. The summit talks resulted in South Korean President Kim Dae-jung earning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his successful efforts to ease tensions on the peninsula.

But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Responding in its ill-advised but predictable way, Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled atomic energy agency inspectors, resumed processing fuel rods and began developing nuclear explosive devices....

(Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11carter.html?hp

[Atman]

1. k&r

..

[AlGore-08.com]

2. Gore was "the most consistently vocal supporter" of sending Carter to NK

and Haiti in the Clinton Admin...



Gore, speaking simultaneously to Jimmy Carter in North Korea and National Security Advisor Tony Lake.

[Peace Patriot]

3. It's too bad they didn't offer them solar panels, and other alternative

and clean energy--the wave of the future. Nuclear power is one of the dirtiest power sources, and also the most dangerous on earth. Further, the deal with No. Korea benefited Bechtel, GE and the other war profiteers that are driving our fascist government now, and who are into nuclear proliferation. They create the mess. Get paid billions. Then they clean the mess up and get paid billions. Then they use their billions to buy politicians, steal elections and install a rightwing junta in Washington DC. Bad long term thinking, Mr. Carter and Mr. Gore!

It was certainly a better idea that any coming forth from the Bush Junta--bullying, saber-rattling, torturing and mass murder. And maybe it's the only deal one they could make--or could think of--at the time. And they did the right thing using diplomacy and foreign aide. But, jeez, didn't they think twice about creating a whole new generation of No. Korean nuclear scientists, incompetence and lack of accountability in the use of nuclear technology by their paranoid and undemocratic government, and the inherent dangers of nuclear technology?

You'd almost think Bechtel and GE were running things even then.