WASHINGTON and BEIJING, Dec. 6, 2007
Bush Sends Letter On Nukes To North Korea
Message Hand-Delivered By U.S. Nuclear Envoy; Copies Sent To 4 Other Countries, Too
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"I want to emphasize that the declaration must be complete and accurate if we are to continue our progress," Mr. Bush wrote, according to an excerpt of the Dec. 1 letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The Bush administration sought to play down the diplomatic significance of the letter — the president's first to the reclusive North Korean leader. Yet, it reflected how U.S. policy toward the nation has shifted from the days when Mr. Bush shunned the dictator.
The letter might sate Kim's craving to be recognized by the U.S. as a player on the world stage. However, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Mr. Bush meant it as a "reminder" to North Korea that it has pledged to provide — by the end of the month — a complete and accurate disclosure of its nuclear programs.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the contents of the letter, said Mr. Bush indicated to Kim that if North Korea does what it has agreed to do, and the Korean peninsula is denuclearized, then that will ultimately lead to normalization.
The United States is looking for a complete declaration of North Korea's nuclear facilities, materials and programs and also insists that it address any role that the North Koreans have played in spreading nuclear technology or know-how to others.
Mr. Bush sent similar letters on Dec. 1 to the leaders of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea — the other nations involved in the six-party nuclear talks — to reiterate his desire to resolve the nuclear standoff. He also spoke about the issue on the phone Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Under the watchful eye of U.S. experts, North Korea started disabling its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon, which was shut down in July, and two other facilities last month.
Christopher Hill, the U.S. nuclear envoy who delivered Mr. Bush's letter to North Korea's foreign minister during a visit to Pyongyang earlier this week, says efforts to disarm the reactor by year's end are going as scheduled, but differences remain over the nuclear programs that the regime would declare.
Neither the White House nor the State Department would release the letters or disclose their content.
A U.S. official told the AP that the letter to North Korea refers to a need to resolve three main sticking points: the exact amount of weapons-grade nuclear material the North produced, the number of warheads it built and whether and how North Korea may have passed nuclear material or knowledge to others.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of the delicate diplomacy, said the letter underscored Bush's desire to resolve the nuclear dispute, and made plain that North Korea cannot skirt requirements to fully explain the extent, use and possible spread of nuclear material and technology.
Derek Mitchell, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the letter is evidence that U.S. policy toward North Korea has changed "at least 150 degrees" from early in the Bush administration.
"Kim Jong Il is someone whom Bush famously loathed. He's quoted as saying he loathes Kim Jong Il and called him a pygmy, and the attitude was that you don't talk to evil, you end it," Mitchell said. "That Bush would, at this point, directly contact — send a personal letter to Kim Jong Il — is a remarkable turnaround from that."
Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, warned against placing too much significance on the direct correspondence.
"I think a presidential letter is a fairly restrained version of direct communication and appropriate to the stage of the negotiations," he said. "I think it's better for this sort of letter to be written than for the president to jump on a plane to Pyongyang."
The Bush letter is a diplomatic exclamation point because North Korea has been hearing the same message from Hill. The correspondence also serves a domestic political purpose — signaling to conservative critics of the North Korea deal that the United States will not roll back its requirements or accept less than a full declaration of the North's nuclear program.
The question of proliferation has taken on greater significance, and become a political hurdle for the Bush administration, since Israel's air strike on a suspected Syrian nuclear site Sept. 6. Intelligence reports suggested Syria was cooperating in some fashion with North Korea in building the site.
The news that North Korea may have been working with others as recently as this year, after it had agreed to give up its weapons, reinvigorated U.S. domestic opposition to what some conservatives in Congress see as an overly generous deal with an unreliable country.
Under the deal, North Korea was promised 1 million tons of fuel oil or the equivalent, plus political concessions such as its removal from a U.S. list of terrorism-supporting nations, in return for disabling its nuclear program and making other moves.
U.S. officials have acknowledged the Dec. 31 deadline is likely to slip. Better to have the complete document in hand a couple of weeks late than to have a half-baked version by the Dec. 31 deadline.
"It is going to take a monumental effort to get all of this done by the end of the year," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters as she flew to Brussels on Thursday for NATO meetings. "And I am not too concerned about whether it's December 31st or not. They seem to be on track. Everybody believes the cooperation is very good."
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon sounded a gloomier note, saying, "There has not been progress on the declaration yet."
A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed disappointment that North Korea was likely to miss the year-end deadline, but that it is unlikely to affect the overall agreement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the six countries were consulting on whether to hold another round of meetings before the end of the year.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 59 Comments"Ahhh, uhhh...ummm...gosh...? You''re real good President of North Korea. Keep it up slanty! GWB"
Though the contents of the letter are secret, it is believed that the Emperor has opened the possibility of "opening North Korea" to the world just as China was "opened". The Emperor and his big business lobbyists are looking at the possibility of putting the 1,000,000 man North Korean Army to work for slave wages as the peasants are doing for big corporations in China.
This, of course, would mean that even more jobs would be shipped overseas and even more overpriced, contaminated goods would end up here to be consumed by stupid American consumers who could afford them and bent on unknowingly poisoning themselves, with the profits being kept by the big corporations.
The North Koreans would benefit hugely from this. with big corporations handing them USSA technology which would make it possible for them to send men to the moon and for Jong to have all the DVD''s he could ever imagine!
THE FERENGI WOULD BE PROUD!!!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
I heard you have some real mean garlic recipes and I''d like to have them.
You see, I''m being asked alot of uncomfortable questions lately and if I can keep these damm reporters away from me, it''d be helpful.
Yours in god (by the way, you a christian by chance?)
Daunted Leader and Failed Decision-Maker GWB
Read this on ABC News.......appalling that this man is still in office. When are we going to IMPEACH this lying fool? APPALLED!
Why isn''t this CBS''s HEADLINE?
nevermind
nevermind
Posted by hillaryin08 at 08:51 AM : Dec 06, 2007
Yeah - that''s pretty funny. Expecting Bush to use diplomacy. You''re a riot!
Funny, I wasn''t aware that he knew how to write!
Posted by hillaryin08
Huh?
I wonder if the letter was an upper case "W" or a lower case "w"?
Surely someone wrote it for him?
He''''s come a long way baby!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by jh6379 at 10:32 AM : Dec 06, 2007
yeah, he actually has a masters degree from Yale. What''s your education? Puts you to shame, doesn''t it. How''s it feel to be stupid?
Posted by mbcsmith
LOL! A Masters from Yale!!!! Read the 2006 Article in Rolling Stone and the 1999 Article as well. That will explain the "Masters from Yale". When your Daddy has that much money, you can buy ANYTHING! How does it feel to be so naive?
Posted by CitizenUSA
Not to mention he was rejected for admission to the university of Texas law school in the fall of 1970. How does such a brilliant man with a masters from Yale get rejected admission to a Texas law school?
Taking sides with the enemy is never a good thing especially when you share the same enemy as your enemy.
Jihadi, education in bomb making doesn''t count. You wouldn''t know what a vote is since your radical Islamic brotherhood (and the LIBS) forbids such infidel behavior. Merry Christmas , oops I mean allah akbar to you.
He has come a long way.
Posted by jh6379
It''s far more likely that Barney the dog authored it for him.
Bush and Kim Jong are both insane dictators. But Kim Jong is clearly more intelligent than Bush.
notblue
You are nothing more than a paid hack who masquarades as several different people in here. You get your asss handed to you more often than not because you are a moron with no understanding of the issues beyond what you get from suckling at Rush''s big man-boobs.
"my pet goat" - Gosh there might be hope after all
these 8 years and trillions of dollars spent on the
wars in Afganistan and Iraq.
Not sure his spelling would be good enough.
Posted by omega39
Well, he was smart enough to be president and that leaves out Kerry, Gore, Dukakis, Mondale, the list is endless. By the way, how much did the Demonrats pay David Copperfield to make John Kerry disappear? He is harder to find the Hoffa nowadays. LMFAO!!
with so much credibility left after iraq''s wmds, and iran''s nuculur weapons, and americans are not being spied upon, george w bush won''t be able to get a world consensus on korea or anywhere else.
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