The Bush administration should abandon its long-standing refusal to engage in direct talks with North Korea, now that Pyongyang has ratcheted up the stakes with its announced nuclear test, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and prominent Democrat said Tuesday.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who served in President Bill Clinton’s administration and has visited North Korea, said President Bush was right to seek sanctions against North Korea in the U.N., but should next move to direct talks with the reclusive nation.
“I would engage directly in face-to-face talks,” Richardson said on NBC’s “Today” show. “That’s when you deliver your toughest message.”
In taking that stance, Richardson echoed the message that former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Sunday, as Baker urged the administration to talk directly to adversaries around the world.
The administration has been attempting for years to get more countries to join its anti-proliferation initiative, aimed at stopping countries like North Korea from selling nuclear weaponry and missiles. But it has refused one of North Korea’s key demands: that the United States engage in direct one-on-one talks. Instead the administration insists on sticking to the so-called six-party format, where Russia, China, South Korea and Japan have joined the United States in talking to North Korea.
Pyongyang vs. the world?
At the United Nations, the U.S. has proposed stringent sanctions, including a trade ban on military and luxury items, the power to inspect all cargo entering or leaving the country, and freezing assets connected with its weapons programs.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, scheduled to meet with the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, cast the standoff with Pyongyang as one “between North Korea and the rest of the world” that will result in sanctions or more if the rogue nation does not restart talks with the international community.
“I think that North Korea has had a successful history of intimidating other countries,” Bolton said on CBS’ “The Early Show.”
“They’re not going to be successful with us,” he added.