So what does everyone think about this statement from Barack Obama?:
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says the Bush administration should have sought direct dialogue with North Korea earlier.
The Illinois senator said Sunday he felt disturbed to hear the North is likely to have helped Syria pursue a covert nuclear program. He said such suspected activities took place while the U.S. suspended direct talks with Pyongyang.
Obama stressed the need for dialogue not only with U.S. allies but also countries hostile to Washington. [KBS Global]
The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is that the North Koreans cheated on the nuclear deal signed by former President Bill Clinton almost immediately after signing it with their HEU program. What else I found interesting about this comment is that according to CNN the Syrians and North Koreans first started discussing nuclear cooperation in 1997 during the Clinton administration and actually began working on their nuclear cooperation project in 2001.
The nuclear cooperation between Syria and North Korea is not something that happened recently and no amount of talking can change that. In fact if talking to North Korea is considered a sign of progress with North Korea then we should have had peace in our time long ago.
So what exactly would Barack Obama do about North Korea if he was president? Obama has never given any detailed responses that I can find of how he would handle the North Korean nuclear issue. The best summary I can find of how he would handle North Korea comes from One Free Korea who has compiled various statements from him that shows that besides talking, which history has shown has little effect with North Korea; President Obama would refer the North Koreans to the UN Security Council if they don’t listen to him. Has Barack Obama watched Team America yet?
His North Korea policies could get even worse if Kim Jong-Bill Richardson is appointed his Secretary of State.
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10:26 am on April 29th, 2008 1
There is the first flaw in the argument right there. Over the decades long before Bush, dialogue has been conducted to little or no avail over the decades. If Obama has a way of dealing with Kim Jong Il better than past administrations, I would like to hear it. As you said, I have not seen anything on HOW it will be done. In fact, very, very little is mentioned about Korea.
I am not happy with any of the candidates in regards to North Korea. Talks will not work, toothless sanctions will not work, goodies will not work, and certainly sitting down with Kim Jong Il will not work. As Hwang jang Yop pointed out before, he pretends to listen but does something else entirely. This has been proven over and over again. The only things that will work in my opinion are:
1. China stops aid and cooperates with full sanctions which will most likely not happen anytime soon. Marcus Noland pointed out at a Press Club a little after the nuke test partial sanctions will not work unless it was across the board other than aid which is under watchful eye to make sure it is not diverted.
2. Let the state implode on its own without dialogue.
This will most likely never happen. One thing I do know is we should not talk at all to North Korea until a full declaration is made, and that too has been a failure.
11:12 am on April 29th, 2008 2
If Obama wants to develop a sound North Korea policy he could start by reading this:
http://freekorea.us/2008/01/22/plan-b-how-to-disarm-kim-jong-il-without-bombing-him/
McCain out of all the candidates has had the most detail about what he would do about the North Korea issue:
http://freekorea.us/2008/01/07/the-candidates-on-north-korea-edwards-giuliani-mccain-obama-richardson/
People can agree or disagree with McCain on this but at least he has been providing detail about his views about North Korea instead of relying on cliches of we should talk to them.
11:18 am on April 29th, 2008 3
Good follow-up to Hillary on OEF.
12:49 pm on April 29th, 2008 4
It is a more than reasonable guess these days that Obama and crew are part of the intellectual elite in the US who view the US as the problem with the world. And from what he says, I would bet he believes by being “different” he could sit down with Pyongyang and naturally work things out, because he is so willing to admit America’s faults and work on us - first. I call this the Sean Penn school of international thought….
1:21 pm on April 29th, 2008 5
The North Koreans will get away with anything they can at any time with any party in the White House.
1:09 am on April 30th, 2008 6
Yeah, I remember LBJ thought he could handle Ho Chi Minh a few years back and remember how well THAT went! Not to mention the various DMZ incidents of that time, the Pueblo, the EC-121, etc…
6:01 am on April 30th, 2008 7
barack’s an idiot.
7:06 am on April 30th, 2008 8
Six-Party Talks has yielded many direct side-sessions between the U.S.-DPRK. Talking the talk (rather badly), but can’t dance the dance if one refuses. Nothing will change until KJI is out of power.
2:25 am on May 1st, 2008 9
Pull the troops out then watch the problem solve itself.
11:23 pm on May 1st, 2008 10
By the way…How do I remove a comment or edit one? I was screwing around on one to cause some drama and now I think it was a bit inappropriate. Pls contact me or tell me how to contact a mod.
6:15 am on May 2nd, 2008 11
Which comment are you talking about?
7:55 am on May 2nd, 2008 12
The one another career ruined by stupidity.