Bush Creating Cold War to Push Missile Defense Plan.
"PRESIDENT Kim Dae Jung of South Korea may find a chilly reception for his “sunshine” policy towards North Korea in Washington this week, for if one characteristic has emerged clearly from the foreign policy of the new Bush Administration, it is a willingness to offend old enemies. In the space of six weeks, President Bush has bombed Iraq, angered China, told Moscow to expect reduced aid, worried much of Europe with his insistent approach to national missile defence (NMD) and made clear that he does not intend to share cocktails with Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s leader, any time soon. The diplomatic temperature at the last Cold War frontier on the Korean peninsula is dropping swiftly, straining relations between the United States and South Korea, hitherto one of the closest military alliances in the world.
"President Kim, who flew to Washington [Wednesday] to try to steer the new Administration towards a policy of engagement with North Korea, wants the sort of solid support he got from President Clinton for his efforts to end decades of hostility between the two Koreas. So far, there is little indication that he is going to get it. The Bush team, openly dubious of the prospects for rapid change in the North, is emphasising conventional disarmament to reduce tensions rather than more talks to curb Pyong-yang’s missile programme, while demanding more concrete gestures of reconciliation from the North. During his confirmation hearings, General Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, flatly referred to the North Korean leader as a “dictator”. The South Koreans are rattled: “We are really afraid that the change in Administration could undercut the peace process,” an adviser to Mr Kim said last week. The North Koreans are sabre-rattling again, condemning the “hardline” stance taken by the new Administration and threatening to abandon missile and nuclear agreements with the United States.
"The new cold front is being propelled, to a great extent, by American ambitions for NMD. The threat of attack from North Korea is one of the central justifications cited by the Bush team for creating a missile shield. While much of Mr Bush’s foreign policy is still at a formative stage, the President has signalled a tougher stance on a variety of fronts, most notably Iraq. NMD is emerging as the defining factor in Mr Bush’s international vision, despite opposition and anger in Beijing and Moscow and concern across much of Europe." --Ben Macintyre, 3/7/01 |
