SEOUL: By severing some of the few remaining US ties with North Korea in recent days, the Bush administration appears to be trying to further isolate the Pyongyang regime over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, analysts say. Wednesday’s suspension of a Pentagon programme to recover the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War puts an end to one of the few regular channels of face-to-face contact between Americans and North Koreans. It also cuts off a source of hard currency for the North Korean army, which was being paid millions to assist in the search for remains. Also this week, the United States refused to renew the contract of the American executive director of an international consortium in charge of supplying energy to North Korea.
Analysts said the Bush administration’s decision to terminate the contract of Charles Kartman, a career US diplomat who had headed the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization since 2001, was likely a prelude to completely abandoning a light-water nuclear reactor under construction on North Korea’s east coast. “The US is shutting down anything that is in anyway remotely beneficial to North Korea,” said Gordon L. Flake, an expert on North Korea and head of the Mansfield Centre for Public Affairs in Washington, DC. He described this week’s moves as signs that the administration “is gearing up for the next phase” as it becomes increasingly likely that North Korea will not return to multinational talks over giving up its nuclear weapons programme.
A former State Department official, who did not wish to be quoted by name, said that the suspension of the remains recovery and Kartman’s termination are signs of a concerted effort by the Bush administration to tighten the screws on North Korea.
“They are putting all the pieces in place to shut everything down around North Korea,” he said. Aid officials are worried that the United States may not make its annual contribution to the UN food drive for North Korea. The United States has been one of the largest suppliers of food to the impoverished North, last year supplying 50,000 tons of food. This year, it has yet to indicate whether it will make a pledge, said Anthony Banbury, the UN World Food Programme’s regional director for Asia.
In the past, the United States has always been adamant that political factors did not influence its decisions on humanitarian assistance. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, asked last week about food aid to North Korea, said that the nuclear issue would have no bearing on the decision. Nevertheless, the impasse with North Korea has forced the administration to look for new ways to pressure North Korea to resume disarmament negotiations.
Having no diplomatic relations with North Korea and virtually no business connections, the United States has limited leverage to bend Pyongyang to its will. North Korea receives 80 per cent of its energy through China, also the conduit for most trade. But Beijing so far has rebuffed requests by the Bush administration to apply economic pressure on its Communist client state.
It has been 11 months since the last round of six-nation talks in Beijing, and analysts believe that the one-year anniversary is something of an unstated deadline for the parties to the talks to give up hope of their resumption. Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies have warned that North Korea might be preparing an underground nuclear test. In the continuing war of words with the United States, North Korea’s only nationwide television station on Thursday night accused the Bush administration of spreading false information about Pyongyang’s intentions.
“The US leadership has recently . . . come out with a fabrication that there are some kind of missile tests and signs of an underground nuclear test,” complained the Korean Central Television Station in a report monitored in Seoul. North Korea has not yet made an official statement about the suspension of the remains recovery project or Kartman’s termination. The moves could, however, exacerbate tensions with Pyongyang, which has accused the Bush administration of planning an invasion to overthrow the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. In recent months, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has strenuously denied any such intentions, even while harshly criticizing Kim.—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service
