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Bush’s North Korean Diplomacy

Is Rice right?

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended U.S. diplomacy toward North Korea on Wednesday, saying that a deal with Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear ambitions made Asia and the United States safer and that the country is close to making public details of its past nuclear pursuits.

Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, Rice said that “North Korea will soon give its declaration of nuclear programs to China.” China is the host of the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program, along with Russia, South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

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Rice said that once North Korea submits its declaration, President Bush will notify Congress that he intends to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and scrap some sanctions levied against North Korea because of nuclear concerns.

But she noted that there would be no practical effect to loosening the restrictions because North Korea still was under the same sanctions because of other areas of U.S. law.

Rice said a 45-day review would begin to allow U.S. verification and assess whether Pyongyang was living up to its end of the deal struck in the six-party talks.

Posted by Owen at 2135 hrs
Foreign Affairs + Politics + Politics - General

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