Foreign Policy Faux Pas

"Provocative and reckless dialogue" were the words used by an editorial in North Korea's official Workers' Party newspaper to describe President George W. Bush's latest contribution to relations on the Korean peninsula.

Bush, who last week met for the first time with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, signaled that he would not resume missile talks with North Korea. The president cited his concern that the communist nation "is not keeping all terms of all agreements." On its face, it would seem that this was a reasonable position, showing that the American dedication to democracy and human rights will not be mocked and that its agreements with potentially aggressive nations should be strictly enforced in a transparent manner. It would have been a constructive statement of policy--if only Bush had first stopped to remember that the U.S. has only one minor agreement with North Korea and that there is no reason to believe that it is has been violated, as aides later confirmed.

Those who argued during the campaign that Bush's lack of foreign policy experience or knowledge would be balanced by his seasoned staff of advisors should take note that his erroneous statement has heightened tensions between the two countries that share the world's most militarized border, which is guarded by over 37,000 American troops.

And as for Bush's cracker-jack staff of aides, the best excuse they could make for the president's global faux pas was to say that he was referring to his concern that there may be enforcement concerns in the future should the United States enter any other agreements with North Korea. Publicly doubting the credibility of the parties even before they get to the negotiating table is always a good tactic for "getting to yes" on the peace settlement Bush claims to endorse.

Not only did this mistake increase the ire of the North Korean leaders toward the United States, but most likely it was the driving force in their decision to delay their talks with South Korean leaders scheduled for this week. This development is a move that South Korean officials called an embarrassment for their president, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary hard work and diplomatic determination to fashion a peace declaration for the Korean peninsula.

The apparent Bush policy to abandon our efforts to improve North Korean relations is one that is misguided and will only serve to exacerbate tensions on an already nervous peninsula. It will also bring grave dangers for the North Korean people, who have endured a series of deadly famines because of the policies of their dictatorial government and their limited access to the outside world.

Only by engaging North Korea can we ever hope to improve the prospects for peace in the region and to make inroads into the isolationist nation. We would be foolish not to capitalize on this time when the South Korean president has expended so much energy to see such a peace achieved. This is not to say that the U.S. should roll over to one of the world's most erratic rogue nations; rather, it should proceed with caution on an agenda that will support Kim Dae Jung's responsible vision of incremental steps to long-lasting stability for the Koreas.