Truespeak

The Republican puke-funnel that we call the media was all a-twitter today over the supposed "agreement" with North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions.

"For the cause of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, the six parties held in the spirit of mutual respect and equality serious and practical talks concerning the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula on the basis of the common understanding of the previous three rounds of talks and agreed in this context to the following:

1) The six parties unanimously reaffirmed that the goal of the six-party talks is the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

The DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes and returning at an early date to the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards.

The United States affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons.

The ROK (South Korea) reaffirmed its commitment not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons in accordance with the 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, while affirming that there exist no nuclear weapons within its territory. The 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula should be observed and implemented.

The DPRK stated that it has the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The other parties expressed their respect and agreed to discuss at an appropriate time the subject of the provision of light-water reactor to the DPRK.

2) The six parties undertook, in their relations, to abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and recognised norms of international relations.

The DPRK and the United States undertook to respect each other's sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalise their relations subject to their respective bilateral policies.

The DPRK and Japan undertook to take steps to normalise their relations in accordance with the Pyongyang Declaration, on the basis of the settlement of unfortunate past and the outstanding issues of concern.

Naturally, George W. Bush was full of praise.

Five nations, in working with North Korea, have come up with a formula which we all hope works. Five nations have spoken and said it is not in the world's interest that North Korea have a nuclear weapon. And now there's a way forward. And part of the way forward is for the North Koreans to understand that we're serious about this, and that we expect there to be a verifiable process. In other words, they have said, in principle, that they will abandon their weapons programs. And what we have said is, great, that's a wonderful step forward, but now we've got to verify whether or not that happens.

It was a positive step yesterday. It was a step forward in making this world a more secure place. And I want to thank our other partners in the six-party dialogue, you know, by working together. The question is, over time, will all parties adhere to the agreement.

So what was it that got the North Koreans to sign on? Well, basically the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have all agreed to provide North Korea with energy assisstance and have promised to discuss "at an appropriate time" the possibility of providing them with a light-water nuclear reactor.

I found all of this to be quite surprising, because back in 1994, the Clinton administration negotiated the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) Agreed Framework. This was a nuclear non-proliferation agreement that would provide the North Koreans with energy assistance and...wait for it....a light-water nuclear reactor.

And what has been the conservative reaction to the Clinton administration's policy? Well, that's really no that surprising.

The leftist media spin is that the current crisis in North Asia is the result of George W. Bush calling Pyongyang a member of the 'axis of evil.' In reality, the soft-line appeasement policy taken by Clinton against North Korea and China is what has led us to this point.

And when asked by Sean Hannity, Condi Rice was less than complimentary.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice criticized the Clinton administration on Monday for allowing North Korea to use its nuclear weapons program to blackmail the U.S. during the 1990s, saying the Bush administration now had the crisis under control because the president had changed course.

Rice made the comments to nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity, who asked whether the 1994 Agreed Framework negotiated by the Clinton White House amounted to "blackmail."

"Yes," said Rice, adding, "We're not going to go back there."

So excuse me if I seem a little less than enthusiastic. It's just another example of the Republican party trying to take credit for something that's already been accomplished by a Democrat.

(Just for the record - North Korea says there's no deal without the light-water reactor.)