George W. Bush's position on

North Korea: After WWII, in 1948, North Korea emerged under the rule of Kim Il-Sung, the "eternal president" of the communist country until his death in 1994. Kim Il-Sung was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong-Il, in 1997. Kim Jong-Il is known internationally as North Korea's leader, but his official title is Chairman of the National Defense Commission and is the leader of the Korean Workers' Party, the communist government's national group. Today, the country is ranked as one of the worst in the world with regards to economic aid, slave labor, human rights, number of political prisoners, and freedom of the press. In 2002, the capital in Pyongyang decided to reactivate a nuclear reactor and expel UN inspectors, giving many nations reason to believe that North Korea had reinstated its nuclear weapons programs. Shortly after this decision, the Bush administration declared the country a member of an "Axis of Evil." From BBC News

Description of candidate's position: Both candidates assume North Korea is a volatile region that has possession of or capabilities to make nuclear weapons and each agree that talks are the necessary venue for resolving the issues. Which kind of talks, however, is the key difference. After Bush declared the nation a part of its "Axis of Evil" &endash; along with Iraq and Iran &endash; many thought the administration would seek military action, as it did with Iraq. However, Bush's only military action against North Korea is to try and beef up a nationwide anti-missile defense system in response to threats of intermediate-range missile capabilities, which administration officials admit they aren't sure the country has. Besides the program, Bush has advocated multilateral talks with North Korea, involving South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia, as well as the U.S. From the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58086-2004Sep28.html (need to register on website &endash; at no cost &endash; to access story), and from the Bush re-election website

Quotation from the candidate: "Before I was sworn in, the policy of this government was to have bilateral negotiations with North Korea. And we signed an agreement with North Korea that my administration found out that was not being honored by the North Koreans. And so I decided that a better way to approach the issue was to get other nations involved, just besides us. And in Crawford, Texas, Jiang Zemin and I agreed that the nuclear-weapons-free peninsula, Korean Peninsula, was in his interest and our interest and the world's interest. And so we began a new dialogue with North Korea, one that included not only the United States, but now China. And China's a got a lot of influence over North Korea, some ways more than we do. As well, we included South Korea, Japan and Russia. So now there are five voices speaking to Kim Jong-Il, not just one. And so if Kim Jong-Il decides again to not honor an agreement, he's not only doing injustice to America, he'd be doing injustice to China, as well. And I think this will work. It's not going to work if we open up a dialogue with Kim Jong-Il. He wants to unravel the six- party talks, or the five-nation coalition that's sending him a clear message… The minute we have bilateral talks, the six-party talks will unwind. That's exactly what Kim Jong-Il wants. And by the way, the breach on the agreement was not through plutonium. The breach on the agreement is highly enriched uranium. That's what we caught him doing. That's where he was breaking the agreement." First Presidential Debate transcript

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: The Brookings Institution, an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted to economic and foreign policy issues, believes the six-party talks are a great idea, but that they need to be expanded to include humanitarian and human rights issues, which are being dissuaded by the U.S. for fear that they will stall negotiations. From the Brookings Institute

Negative: The Carter Center, founded by former president Jimmy Carter and advocating human rights, accuses the Bush administration of detracting from talks and reversing the good relations between the U.S. and North Korea. Because of the U.S.'s labeling of the country as part of an "Axis of Evil," the building up of defense systems, and the original refusal by the U.S. for direct talks, Carter claims the current administration will never achieve negotiations. From the Carter Center

Comparison: Kerry has advocated negotiating a "comprehensive agreement" that addresses all areas of concern between North Korea and the U.S. &endash; including security issues, economic issues, human rights violations, and nuclear, chemical, and missile programs &endash; since August of 2003. In the second presidential debate, Kerry specified that these talks would be bilateral, not the six-party talks that Bush advocated in the debate.

Link to Kerry's issue brief.