Leave it to the State Department to come up with a nuclear declaration like this:

The U.S. is asking North Korea to include a full account of the number of nuclear warheads it has produced in its declaration of nuclear programs and stockpiles.

According to a South Korean government source, the U.S. has decided to allow the North to “indirectly acknowledge” its uranium enrichment program and nuclear proliferation to Syria, but the North must declare its weapons-grade plutonium.

This means the U.S. wants the North to document the total amount of plutonium, the number of nuclear warheads, and the logbook of the Yongbyon atomic reactor and nuclear reprocessing facility and their operation. [Chosun Ilbo]

So how are the North Koreans going to “indirectly acknowledge” their nuclear proliferation and uranium enrichment program you may ask? Courtesy of the Washington Post we now know how:

There have been signs in recent weeks that it may be closer to doing so after the United States agreed to put the sensitive matters of its alleged uranium enrichment program and nuclear proliferation in a separate document.

Under a face-saving formula described by people familiar with the negotiations, Washington would put forward a bill of particulars regarding uranium enrichment and proliferation and North Korea would “acknowledge the U.S. concerns.” [Washington Post]

The way it sounds this is going to play out is that the nuclear proliferation and uranium enrichment program will be listed on a separate document and the North Koreans will simply say they acknowledge the US concerns without ever admitting to anything. For “progress” like this the State Department wants to de-list the North Koreans from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List and remove and host of sanctions from the country as well.

As the Washington Post points out the list that is about to be released will still have North Korea on it because it lists countries who sponsored terrorism in 2007. The de-listing of North Korea could not happen until the release of next year’s report which you can assure the State Department will be vigorously trying to remove the North Koreans from. The State Department has pretty much concluded like I and others have been saying now for years, North Korea is never going to denuclearize so let’s just strike a deal and get what we can from them in return, which as it looks now it will not be much.

Fortunately Republican Senators are rebelling against this attempted State Department deal and as One Free Korea reports, has sent a letter to President Bush emphasizing their dissatisfaction:

We are … concerned about the present course of action on North Korea’s nuclear program being pursued by representatives of your Administration. It cannot be said that North Korea has complied with its commitments. From all appearances, Kim Jong Il believes that the United States will take whatever deal we can get, allowing him to dictate the time, place, manner, and content of the fulfillment of his promises.

Read the rest at OFK which has much more.