U.S. Considers 3 New Bold Approaches

John R. Bolton (Photo), Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security announced yesterday that the U.S. was discussing with allies to seek ways to prevent North Korea from exporting Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and missiles either on air, land, or sea routes.

Before the U.S. House Committee on International Relations, Undersecretary Bolton said: “Discussion is ongoing with allies over the Proliferation Security Initiative, President Bush proposed in Poland on May 31.”

“Export blockades will help to prevent rogue states from building dangerous capabilities”, said Bolton and mentioned a series of incidents of the past: Seizure of the North Korean ship, Sosan, which was transporting missiles to Yemen in December of last year, Blockading the North`s efforts to sell sodium cyanide, a material for chemical weapons, with the help of France and Germany, and Australia’s successful arrest of the North Korean ship, Bongsu, for trafficking in illegal drugs.

Ha also added that at a meeting in December last year, the Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed to distribute a list of items, which could be used to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear material, as well as to blockade their exports to the communist regime in a non-proliferation effort.

He proposed earlier three bold steps to counter the North`s aspirations for WMD, which are economic sanctions, blockades and seizure, and preemptive military actions when necessary, as were seen in Iraq.

Nevertheless, Bolton said that “the U.S. is willing to consider talks with the North on its ‘bold proposal’ if the North terminates its nuclear program in verifiable and irreversible ways.” He also noted that “the U.S. will provide the North with aid, respecting the bold proposal if the North embarks on addressing immediate issues, such as developing and exporting WMD and missiles, re-positioning conventional forces, illegal trafficking in drugs, abusing human rights, and sponsoring global terrorism.”

He charged: “the North is capable of extracting plutonium, which can produce six nuclear weapons within six months and possesses a fair amount of chemical weapons and materials, which can be applied in various ways.”

As of the relations between the North and China, Undersecretary Bolton said that China may regard the North`s nuclear development less as a direct threat, but will be interested in the North`s nuclear position after all, since it could encourage Japan to go nuclear and ultimately result in fundamental changes in power dynamics in Northeast Asia.

maypole@donga.com