Mr. Bush has never been all that involved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to attempt to realize a peace agreement between those two antagonists. Indeed, it’s hard to remember any instance when Our Dear Leader has been personally involved in diplomatic efforts, with the exception of trying to convince the UN Security Council to authorize the US led invasion of Iraq in early 2003. Talking peace, cooperation and compromise are clearly not his forte.
Which makes it all the more surprising that Bush, never known for his reading and writing skills, has suddenly decided to insert himself directly into on of the few foreign policy “successes” of his administration by writing a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il regarding the nuclear agreement with North Korea that arose from the “Six Party talks” in which China was the prime mover and shaker:
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US President George W Bush has sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, according to the state news agency KCNA.
The letter was delivered by US envoy Christopher Hill, KCNA reported. The agency did not give any information about the letter’s content.
Mr Hill has just visited North Korea to assess progress on the disabling of its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
If confirmed, the letter would be an unprecedented move by the president.
Unprecedented would be an understatement. Although it’s unlikely Bush actually wrote the letter to which his only literary input was his signature, he hasn’t exactly been known for communicating directly with the leaders of countries on his personal shit list. He never responded to Iranian President Ahmadnejad’s’s correspondence to him in 2006, nor has he ever previously inserted himself into communications with North Korea, the Palestinian authority, Syria or any of a number of other countries. He’s left that “hard work” primarily to his underlings such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. His only appearance at the recent Middle East peace conference in Annapolis was to show up for a few brief remarks and a bungled photo op with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. So why the sudden desire to correspond with one of the Axis of Evil’s principals, Kim Jong-il?
News of the letter comes a day after Mr Hill and South Korean ministers expressed concern that North Korea’s declaration of its nuclear programme might not be completed on time.
Mr Hill said this declaration had to include details of the country’s uranium enrichment programme. […]
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said on Thursday that the deal was “at a crossroads where it may proceed towards a stable phase or to a rough road”.
The US has said it would consider removing North Korea from a list of countries it says sponsors terrorism if Pyongyang full complies with the deal.
Meanwhile negotiations are continuing over a date for the next round of six-party talks, between the Koreas, Russia, the US and China.
Talks was due to restart this week but were called off because of to “scheduling problems”, according to a US State Department spokesman.
Sounds like something may be unraveling with Bush’s deal with North Korea; namely their cooperation to make the dismantling of their nuclear program transparent and verifiable. If that is the case one can only hope that the contents of Bush’s letter are expressed more diplomatically than his usual public rhetoric, and isn’t a mere recitation of bombast, bluster and empty threats of military action which Bush is in no position to carry out considering North Korea’s massive military, and its possession of nuclear and missile technology capable of hitting Japan and South Korea. Who can tell?
At least some are speculating, however, that Bush’s letter was intended as a show of personal respect for the North Korean leader to encourage him to complete the denuclearization to which he committed his country:
North Korea has in recent months increased its cooperation with the United States in the denuclearization process, allowing inspectors into the Yongbyon nuclear facility, preparing a timetable for the shutdown and disablement of the nuclear facilities and generally continuing the dialogue and engagement with Washington.
In return, Pyongyang wants, at a minimum, removal from the U.S. terrorism list. Recent reports suggest that Washington has raised the bar for the criteria for removal, and in response, North Korea has slightly delayed the meeting and fulfillment schedule on its side. But the Bush letter could be an assurance that Pyongyang will be removed from the list and the associated sanctions lifted.
For North Korea, direct contact from Bush also would be seen as a sign of respect for Kim, something that can go a long way toward smoothing out the nuclear process. But a smooth process is not the same as total disarmament. North Korea and the United States still fundamentally disagree on the issue of existing North Korean nuclear weapons — Washington wants them declared and disabled before progressing with any talks on the normalization of relations, while Pyongyang wants assurances of normalized relations before scrapping its weapons. It will take more than a letter to get past this.
If Bush was induced to write this letter as part of a diplomatic offensive by the US to encourage North Korea to accede to US demands, it would certainly mark a dramatic departure from his standard modus operandi when dealing with “rogue states” who support terrorism. Then again, North Korea is a) not in the Middle East, b) has no oil, and c) already has nukes. All reasons why Bush has never had much interest in “leaving all options on the table” in this case, unlike his rhetoric toward the regimes of Iraq and Iran. It is also likely the reason why we heard about this letter from the North Koreans and not from a White House issued press release. It must gall Bush to have to actually employ the “hard work” of diplomacy rather than the easier (for him) decision to use military force to solve a foreign policy problem.
Poor guy.
