It is unfortunate that North Korea has failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for the disclosure of all its nuclear programs. The failure has prompted the United States, South Korea and other participants in the six-party denuclearization talks to express concerns that the North might backpedal on its nuclear disarmament process. They are losing patience with the recalcitrant communist country.
The process saw a breakthrough last February, mainly thanks to a change in the U.S. which began to find a negotiated solution to the year-long nuclear standoff with the North. The world's last Stalinist state also wanted to break the deadlock by reaching the Feb. 13 agreement to dismantle its nuclear program in return for energy aid, security guarantees and other diplomatic incentives.
It seemed that the North was on the right path to denuclearization as it pledged to disable its nuclear facilities and declare its nuclear activities by the end of 2007. Pyongyang signed official documents Oct. 3 to move forward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. Then, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il broadly agreed on the nuclear disarmament in a joint declaration during the Oct. 2-4 inter-Korean summit with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
But such agreements now prove to have been empty promises, casting a dark cloud over the nuclear-free North and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. Undoubtedly, Pyongyang has to take all the responsibility for missing the deadline and creating a new impasse. It is regrettable that North Korea has again returned to its infamous, old-style strategy of brinkmanship. The Kim regime should realize that such a strategy cannot work any more.
If the North goes back to square one, the U.S. and other six-party countries might also return to their hard-line stance against the reclusive country. In particular, the George W. Bush administration could reverse its conciliatory position and offer more sticks than carrots to force Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambition. In fact, hard-line conservatives in the Washington establishment are raising their voice against the North. They are feared to take the offensive to pressure Bush to go back to his previous positions in which he referred North Korea as one of the ``Axis of Evil'' countries.
A further delay will never bring any benefit to the North as it faces more pressure to disclose its uranium enrichment program and its suspected nuclear connections with Syria. The U.S. Congress plans to dig deeper into the North's nuclear stockpiles and suspicions of its nuclear link to Syria. The Congress has recently passed the Intelligent Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008 to limit relevant U.S. fund appropriations until each member of the congressional intelligence committee has been ``fully and currently informed'' about the Israeli strike of a Syrian facility. The passage was in response to allegations that the North was helping the Middle East country build a nuclear installation.
In South Korea, President-elect Lee Myung-bak has stressed his top priority in his North Korea policy is to realize denuclearization. He has made it clear that the South would not unconditionally provide aid to the North. In this situation, the North should not play a denuclearization game with the South, the U.S. and others. We urge Pyongyang not to turn the clock back in order to enjoy rewards from the nuclear disarmament.