U.S. Election Impact May Be Immediate

On November 9 (local time), the Bush administration announced that although its Iraq policy might change according to the results of the November 7 midterm elections, its policies on North Korea, Iran and Middle East would not.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack emphasized in a regular briefing that, “In terms of the pending issues on North Korea, Iran, and Middle East, I believe the U.S. has been applying the right approaches to those countries. I don’t think that any critical policy shift or policy line change is likely.”

The framework of the six-party talks to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs is expected to remain without dramatic changes.

Stephen Hadley, assistant to the president for national security affairs, stated that, “The upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit meeting in Vietnam on November 18 will certainly address the North Korean nuclear issue.”

The security advisor said in a briefing on November 9 ahead of the APEC summit meeting in Vietnam that, “Although the timetable for the six-party talks is not fixed yet, I assume that they will resume after the APEC meeting,” adding, “the participating countries in the denuclearization talks are now discussing ways to make the first round a success.”

He added that, “The U.S. has made it clear that Pyongyang’s return to the negotiating table is aimed at implementing the agreement signed in Beijing on September 19, 2005 to renounce Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. is reportedly making strenuous efforts to decide the degree of the shift in its policies, including withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Iraq. “Clearly, there are a variety of different ideas on Iraq policy. President Bush has made sure that he will listen to them all,” McCormack said.

Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the 1980s, said in an interview with ABC in Australia on the same day, “Given that the Democratic Party has collected a landslide win in the midterm elections for both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, U.S. policies on Iraq will likely change dramatically, such as a reduction of the number of its troops in Iraq. As of October, there were 144,000 American soldiers dispatched to Iraq.

He analyzed that, “(Unlike what Bush has said), the world has become less safe and the world has become weaker. For instance, U.S. military power is seriously worrisome in terms of its capability to deal with North Korea or Iran.”

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