NYT: Outside Pressures Snapped Korean Deadlock

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — It is hard to imagine that either George W. Bush or Kim Jong-il would have agreed even a year ago to the kind of deal they have now approved. The pact, announced Tuesday, would stop, seal and ultimately disable North Korea’s nuclear facilities, as part of a grand bargain that the administration has previously shunned as overly generous to a repressive country — especially one that has not yet said when or if it will give up its nuclear arsenal.

But in the past few months, the world has changed for both Mr. Bush and Mr. Kim, two men who have made clear how deeply they detest each other. Both are beset by huge problems, and both needed some kind of breakthrough.

For Mr. Bush, bogged down in Iraq, his authority undercut by the November elections, any chance to show progress in peacefully disarming a country that detonated a nuclear test just four months ago could no longer be passed up. As one senior administration official said over the weekend, the prospect that Mr. Bush might leave Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea more dangerous places than he found them “can’t be very appealing.”

Still, the accord came under fast criticism from right and left that it was both too little and too late.

For years, Mr. Bush’s administration has been paralyzed by an ideological war, between those who wanted to bring down North Korea and those who thought it was worth one more try to lure the country out of isolation. In embracing this deal, Mr. Bush sided with those who have counseled engagement, notably his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and her chief negotiator, Christopher R. Hill. Mr. Bush took the leap in the hope that in a few months, he will be able to declare that North Korea can no longer produce fuel for new nuclear weapons, even if it has not yet turned over its old ones.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/world/asia/14assess.html?hp&ex=1171429200&en=f6c2a8fcbc3e97f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Trajan]

1. The GOP Numbskulls roundly dismissed the 'Sunshine Policy' of the Clinton era ....

And even Colin Powell was shocked to see the vitriol against the diplomatic mission with the North Koreans in 2001 ..... It was a "Clinton Policy", you see, and so therefore MUST be despised and discarded ....

And now here we are: Clintonian 'Sunshine Policy' resurrected from the ashes of a disasterous 6 years of GOP governmental rule .....

WHO'd have thought ?

[msongs]

2. clearing the deck for the iran attack perhaps? nt