Dec 27, 2002 4 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – As North Korea moved closer to building new nuclear weapons, the senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the Bush administration Thursday to join with other nations in trying to work out a solution with Pyongyang. But President Bush is determined not to negotiate with North Korea until it suspends its nuclear weapons program, a senior administration official said as Bush flew to Crawford, Texas, for a two-week vacation after a Christmas break at Camp David.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while anxious allies and some legislators fretted about a tough line Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld had taken toward Pyongyang, it underscored Bush’s stand against negotiations and reminded North Korea not to view a potential war with Iraq as an opportunity to move against South Korea.

Both Sen. Richard G. Lugar, an Indiana Republican who will become chairman of the committee next month, and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the senior Democrat, said an approach to North Korea should be coordinated with South Korea, Japan and other Asia powers.

Lugar said on NBC’s Today program that “it would be very inadvisable” to launch a U.S. attack to cripple North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

“The North Koreans would retaliate most likely by a strike against South Korea that could be devastating in the Seoul area, and quite apart from potential attacks upon Japan which the Japanese fear,” he said.

The administration is discussing options with a number of countries, but has not publicly outlined a policy of military or diplomatic action as North Korea moves inexorably toward building new nuclear weapons within months.

While Secretary of State Colin Powell, taking a diplomatic tack, has dangled the prospect of an improved U.S. relationship if North Korea reverses course, Rumsfeld has warned Pyongyang the United States has the might to counter threats from North Korea and Iraq simultaneously.

“We are perfectly capable of doing that which is necessary,” Rumsfeld said Monday.

Since he leveled that warning, North Korea has moved 1,000 fresh fuel rods to a storage facility at its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, and said it was restarting the plant only to generate electricity.

Experts say that within months North Korea could produce new nuclear weapons – it is believed to have one or two already – with plutonium from the facility.

Raising alarm, Biden said Thursday on the “Today” show, “If they get six or eight more nuclear weapons, who knows what they do with them.”

Lugar said there was no imminent crisis but a very serious situation.

The incoming committee chairman said U.S. strategy must be to engage North Korea in parallel with South Korea, Japan. China, Russia and other nations with similar interests. “Their security is at stake,” Lugar said.

Biden said the United States must improve its relationship with North Korea and make sure France, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea are included in the approach to Pyongyang.

Powell used the telephone again Thursday to keep in touch with other countries. He spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. In the past week, he has talked with officials in Britain, France, China, Japan and South Korea.

“The United States will not enter into dialogue in response to threats or broken commitments. We will not bargain or offer inducements for North Korea to live up to the treaties and agreements it has signed,” Powell said Dec. 16 at a news conference.

On taking office, President Bush ordered a reassessment of the Clinton administration’s policy that had produced a freeze on a North Korean nuclear program in exchange for energy supplies.

In July 2001, Bush offered Pyongyang a “comprehensive dialogue.” But last summer, the administration concluded North Korea had started a uranium enrichment program.

In October, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly went to Pyongyang with the message that North Korea must suspend its nuclear program before serious talks could start.

Lee Feinstein, a senior adviser to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said Thursday, “The administration continues to believe that having a conversation is the same as making a concession, and this, of course, is not true.”

“What the United States must do is to talk directly with the North Koreans. We cannot rely on the Russians, Japanese, South Koreans or Chinese to communicate for us the very strong message we ought to send,” said Feinstein, now with the private Council on Foreign Relations.

“We should have carrots ready but we should be very clear that none will be available until North Korea stops its nuclear program,” he said. “We should let them hear from us directly how unhappy and unsatisfied we are.”