Vol. 72/No. 28      July 14, 2008

The announcement of Washington’s measures comes after Pyongyang disclosed information about its development of nuclear energy. The disclosure is a product of talks between Pyongyang, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, Seoul, and Washington that took place in 2007. The day after Bush’s announcement, North Korea disabled its reactor at Yongbyon.

The multilateral talks had aimed at putting pressure on the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear program, including nuclear energy used for electrification.

Leading up to the talks in 2007 Washington had stepped up the pressure on the North Korean government. In September 2005, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Banco Delta Asia, a bank based in Macau, China, of counterfeiting for the DPRK and blocked U.S. banks from doing business with it. In response, other foreign banks, especially in Asia, cut off their business with North Korea for fear of similar reprisals.

Removing a country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism requires a 45-day congressional notification period before it becomes official. The Bush administration also is exempting the DPRK from the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. Both measures loosen economic restrictions on trade and assistance to the North Korean regime, one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world.

At the press conference announcing the moves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “The reality is that there are so many other sanctions on North Korea because of its other behaviors that there’s really no practical effect of taking them off the terrorist list.”

Today, the U.S. military maintains 28,000 troops on the Korean peninsula.

The Japanese government has been a leading voice against the recent measures by Washington. Tokyo criticized the moves as premature, alleging concern over Japanese Tokyo claims were abducted by the North Korean government more than two decades ago. Japan’s Daily Yomiuri reports that the recent U.S. decision “has given the impression that Washington has been excessive in its concessions to Pyongyang, despite the fact the deal was based on a mutual agreement.”

Washington has made it clear that pressures will continue until its demands are met. The United States will pursue the dismantling of all North Korean nuclear facilities and ending “these activities in a way that we can fully verify,” Bush said at the June 26 press conference. “If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and its partners in the six-party talks will act accordingly.”

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said, “Sanctions are a critical part of our leverage to pressure North Korea to act. They should only be lifted based on North Korean performance.” Republican John McCain stated that the U.S. government “must keep diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to meet all of its obligations under the six-party agreement, including denuclearization.”

Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Róger Calero called for ending all sanctions and threats against North Korea and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the peninsula.  
 
 
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