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by John R. Bolton • August 13,
2017 at 1:00 pm
An
inscription stone marking the border of China and North Korea, in
Jilin. (Image source: Prince Roy/Wikimedia Commons)
Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice
acknowledged last week that America's policies regarding North
Korea's nuclear-weapons program over the last three administrations
had failed. She said, rightly, "You can call it a failure. I
accept that characterization of the efforts of the United States
over the last two decades."
Former Vice President Al Gore said much the same.
They should know. They served under President Bill Clinton, who
started things rolling downhill with the Agreed Framework of 1994.
This misbegotten deal provided Pyongyang 500,000 tons of heavy fuel
oil annually and two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for
the North's promise to abandon its nuclear-weapons efforts.
Pyongyang violated its promise before the ink was
dry. In 1999, former Secretary of State James Baker denounced
Clinton's approach as "a policy of appeasement." Baker's
characterization also applies to much of the subsequent U.S.
diplomacy. North Korea has always been willing to promise to
abandon its nuclear ambitions to get tangible economic benefits. It
just never gets around to honoring its commitments.
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