Opinion: Dangerous Delusions

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Washington is awash with reports that some sort of diplomatic deal is in the offing with North Korea to end the 13-month stalemate of the Six Party Talks. But there are indications that the only deal to be had may be one that would revolt conservatives and that even many liberals couldn’t love.

The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler reports that the North Koreans are demanding an even sweeter deal than the Clinton-era Agreed Framework—more fuel oil that the U.S. previously was giving in exchange for a freeze on the Yongbyon nuclear facility and a return of inspectors. Pyongyang isn’t offering to hand over its plutonium stockpiles—meaning that it would still get to keep enough plutonium for nine or 10 weapons (minus whatever it used up in its recent nuclear test.)

The chief U.S. negotiator, Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, has been extremely optimistic in advance of Thursday’s with North Korea in Beijing, predicting that the talks could produce “a substantial start.” But Tokyo is worried that the Bush administration, overtaxed by Iraq and fixated on Iran, may be going wobbly on North Korea.

Still, it’s hard to see how this Bush administration could possibly go for a deal that leaves Kim Jong Il in possession of undetermined quantities of bomb-grade plutonium and rewards him with fuel oil. There have been indications from U.S. officials of a willingness to let Treasury find cause to unfreeze some of the frozen North Korean accounts at the Banco Delta Asia. Some of those accounts were apparently Kim Jong Il’s personal funds and their seizure by Treasury in 2005 reportedly enraged the Dear Leader. If unfreezing them is enough to produce a thaw and get the North Koreans back to talking about denuclearization, that’s skillful diplomacy. But letting Kim Jong Il believe for one instant he can get U.S. aid and get to keep his plutonium stockpile besides? That’s delusional.