The Associated Press has finally caught on to what people following the North Korean nuclear issue have been saying for years, that the North Koreans have no intention of denuclearizing:

A rare foreign policy success for the Bush administration is imploding as North Korea backs away from pledges to abandon nuclear weapons, pretty much as the president’s critics on the right had warned.

Distracted by an economic crisis at home and a series of diplomatic setbacks abroad, President Bush and his top aides are watching the collapse of a painstakingly negotiated process that just months ago seemed on track to produce a major international success and perhaps bring a final end to the Korean War before they leave office.

With time running out on the administration and questions about the health of dictator Kim Jong Il, North Korea has stopped cooperating with the six-nation effort to rid it of atomic bombs and is moving to restart a reactor it disabled with great fanfare in June. It has also tested a missile engine in violation of U.N. sanctions, officials say.

On Friday, the State Department all but acknowledged that the prospects for an agreement while Bush is president are dead, although the United States isn’t giving up.

“We’re going to continue to push this process forward and do those things that we believe are responsible acts in the national interest,” spokesman Sean McCormack said, adding: “Then we will be ready to turn over what we hope is a six-party process moving forward, as well as other diplomatic initiatives” to a new administration.  (…)

Some goals had been longshots to begin with, but many had held out hope that a North Korea deal was achievable.

North Korea confirmed for the first time Thursday that it is making “thorough preparations” to restart its Yongbyon nuclear facility because the United States has failed to follow through with promised incentives. It also said it was no longer interested in one of its main demands, removal from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.

North Korea “will go its own way,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.  [Matthew Lee - AP]

I also like how if you read the whole article it only makes passing reference to the fact that North Korea violated more UN resolutions with its fancy new missile test site like it was no big deal.  I also like how in this AP “Analysis” no mention is made on why the deal went bad in the first place, such as the North Koreans refusing to fully disclose their nuclear programs and refusing to comply with verification measures they agreed to in the deal.  Basically the North Koreans took the Bush administration for all the goodies and money that it could before backing out of the deal before the onset of a new US presidency where they can once again start all over in their demands for more negotiations.

However, it must be tough for AP writers to admit that guys like John Bolton were right about North Korea, but I’m sure the deal’s failure will all be blamed on President George Bush some how.

All I’m wondering now is when is someone going to turn to Plan B to disarm North Korea?

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