[Editorial] Resent over Government`s Response to North`s Nuclear Development

Not satisfying is Kim Dae Jung administration`s response to North Korea`s admission of its nuclear weapons program. Also not understandable is the attitude of North regarding this matter.

What the Kim administration induced out yesterday through the ministry-level talks between North and South is more than disappointing. It`s like ridiculing the whole public. The agreement says, "North and South hereby agree to actively cooperate with each other to resolve all the matters including the nuclear program in a peaceful matter through dialogue." Looking at this silly statement, who would buy the allegation of the participant government officials that they "pressured North"? The statement failed to reflect the grave concerns of South Koreans toward North Korea`s development of the nuclear weapons. Furthermore, we could find nowhere in the statement the whereabouts of the government`s demand that North should put in a detailed explanation of the program and its promise to comply with the 1994 arms control accord.

If the result was expected to be like this silly, the delegates should have stormed out of the meeting. How could they think it`s possible to rein in, with all these soft words, a regime that has deserted all its promises made in the international agreements? We just don`t get it.

North Korea, in its own words, admitted to its development of nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the National Security Council (NSC), which President Kim Dae Jung chairs himself, has never been convened ever since. The Constitution imposes a duty on the NSC to deal with all the matters related to the security of the nation, including foreign policies, military policies and even internal policies. But its members are just watching the matter, sitting on their hands. It is North Korea`s nuclear program that the NSC must immediately cope with.

It seems that the Kim Dae Jung administration is making a feint motion to put on an angry appearance without doing anything it is supposed to. This is the very administration that has hid intelligence on North`s nuclear development from its own citizens for several months. We feel as if we are watching a perfectly coordinated show. Even though North`s nuclear program has become a big international issue, Kim has failed to show any sign of convening the NSC. We really want to know why he acts that weirdly. With these doubts in our mind, we could not help treating as a kind of a show the meeting of Kim with 5 presidential candidates held yesterday at the Blue House.

If the Kim administration continues these lukewarm, weird reactions to North`s nuclear issue, which is directly related to the national security, the doubts of the citizen will keep snowballing. Once the doubts reach up to the critical mass, they will transform themselves into resentment and anger.