Democrats criticize Bush's N. Korea policy

Asian Political News, Jan 13, 2003

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 Kyodo

Leading Democratic Party senators on Sunday criticized President George W. Bush's policy toward North Korea, saying Washington should promptly resume negotiations with Pyongyang.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said in a political debate program on the Fox network that the Bush administration should meet face-to-face with North Korea so as to prevent any miscalculations, adding such action would not mean compromising or surrendering.

Bush has maintained the United States would be willing to talk with North Korea only if that country takes visible and verifiable steps to dismantle its nuclear program in accordance with a 1994 agreement between the U.S. and North Korea.

North Korea has said it is ready to address concerns over its nuclear weapons program if the U.S. guarantees its sovereignty in a legally binding manner, such as through a bilateral nonaggression treaty.

Another Democrat, Sen. John Edwards, who has expressed his intention to run for the 2004 presidential election, said in a program on the ABC network that the current policy toward North Korea has damaged U.S. relations with South Korea.

The North Carolina senator said Bush should dispatch Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Korean Peninsula to show that Washington is paying attention to developments in the region.

Levin also suggested the U.S. should pay more heed to Seoul, saying South Korea is not a servant of the U.S. but an ally of equal footing.

In response, Republican Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma accused the administration of Bush's predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton, of paying ransom money to North Korea in exchange for concluding the 1994 bilateral agreement.

In the pact, North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for two light-water nuclear reactors and a supply of fuel oil as an alternative energy source until the first reactor is operating.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, another republican, defended Bush's hard-line policy, saying if the U.S. allowed North Korea to have its way this time, some other countries may think they can get away with doing something similar.

The U.S. policy on North Korea is expected to be debated heatedly between Bush's Republican Party and the minority Democrats in Congress, whose new session opens Tuesday with some members fresh from winning their seats in November's midterm elections.

In the elections, the Republican Party seized control of the Senate and increased its majority in the House of Representatives.