For years, efforts to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program have been rebuffed by President Kim Jong Il. Now North Korean officials have agreed to a tentative pact that would be a genuine step toward non-proliferation.
North Korea can hardly afford to forge ahead with its nuclear program. The country’s desperate economic situation and extreme power shortages are of crisis proportions. A diplomatic nudge from China and aid offers from Washington have led to a fragile agreement that must be tested in the weeks and months to come.
On Tuesday, North Korea agreed to accept $400 million in financial and energy aid in exchange for beginning to disarm its nuclear weapons program. It’s a huge first step, and the five nations that brokered the talks – the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea – are to be commended for their persistence.
Of course, North Korea has reneged on such agreements in the past, so its implementation of the accord is crucial. As of Tuesday, Pyongyang had agreed to close and seal its main nuclear reactor and related facilities in Yongbyon within 60 days. Officials also agreed to accept U.N. inspectors, provide a list of their nuclear projects and receive energy assistance equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil. The second phase will require North Korea to disable all its nuclear facilities in return for 950,000 tons of oil.
The accord, which came four months after North Korea exploded its first nuclear device, underscores the importance of nations uniting to enforce the global good. No sooner was the agreement reached than British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held it up as a model for using joint action to defuse a similar dispute with Iran, though international consensus there has proved elusive.
So far, the administration has refused to negotiate with Iran despite the urging of other nations. It can be said that President Bush’s refusal to bargain with North Korea when he first took office wasted valuable time during which Kim Jong Il was able to expand and test a nuclear arsenal.
North Korea has suffered extreme energy shortages since the collapse of the Soviet Union and is struggling now to run medical equipment and keep lights on in its hospitals. Oil supplies are so short that it has tried burning tires in its power plants. Yet its nuclear complex in Yongbyon includes a facility for reprocessing spent uranium fuel into weapons-grade plutonium. Experts believe North Korea may have enough plutonium to build about 10 bombs.
A nuclear thaw would ease tensions in Asia and could improve diplomatic relations between North Korea and Japan and the United States. We hope the accord will prove durable.