In The News

North Korea's Latest Nuclear Gambit

Andrew Mack October 21, 2002
This essay focuses on the consequences and future implications of relations between North Korea and the United States given the North Korea's surprise admission of a clandestine nuclear weapons program via enriched uranium. It argues that the United States is in a lose-lose foreign policy situation due to potential accusations of hypocrisy (vis a vis its foreign policy with Iraq) and...

White House Cool to North Korean Offer of Talks

Reuters October 21, 2002
Although the US sent a new shipment of fuel oil to North Korea two days after the latter admitted having a secret nuclear weapons program, the White House says it won’t "reward bad behavior." Unnamed Bush administration officials implied that the 1994 accord with North Korea agreed to give North Korea nuclear reactors and fuel oil in exchange for shutting down weapons-related...

Seoul Criticized for Sweeping Information on North Korean Nukes under Carpet

Hwang Jang-jin October 21, 2002
The North Korean revelation about its secret weapons program has emerged as a hot new issue in the South Korean election campaign. The fact that the South Korean government was informed by the US of North Korea’s secret program in August but it kept quiet about it is being used to blast the government of president Kim Dae Jung, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation effort vis-à-...

A New Front, but It's Still One War

David E. Sanger October 20, 2002
The revelation of a nuclear weapons program in North Korea will test the Bush administration's ability to manage foreign policy and a multi-front war on terrorism. Former ambassador to Korea Stephen Bosworth says he's concerned "about the overload on the intelligence side, human and the technological." The doctrine of pre-emptive defense, outlined recently in the new US...

US Takes Place of Saddam as Saudi 'Threat'

Roula Khalaf October 20, 2002
As the US moves toward military action against Iraq, many people in Saudi Arabia are adamantly opposed to Saudi assistance of the US. Dismissing the idea that the US wishes to spread democracy, ordinary Saudis see an anti-Muslim and pro-Israel agenda in America's every move in the region. Indeed, some would rather see a Middle East with Saddam Hussein in power than an American "puppet...

Our Good Friends

October 20, 2002
On October 17, the day that Commander-in-chief of United States central command, Gen Tommy R. Franks, arrived in Islamabad to witness a much-awaited resumption of US-Pakistan joint military exercises, the New York Times quoted US intelligence sources to claim that Pakistan helped North Korea's clandestine nuclear weapon program. Pakistani denial notwithstanding, the story has had a...

A Bombshell That's Actually an Olive Branch

Leon V. Sigal October 18, 2002
North Korea is seeking better relations with its neighbors and the US, not trying to start an international conflict. Although the country has breached the 1994 agreement to end its nuclear weapons program, what North Korean leaders want is more international acceptance. The record on North Korea suggests that Pyongyang will cooperate when the US stays true to its word and will retaliate when...