BOLTON IS "RUDE HUMAN SCUM"... GOTTA LOVE THE NORTH KOREAN PR MACHINE

Proving once again that North Korea is similar to a cave in remote Antarctica, their PR machine shot back at John Bolton's running commentary on the current regime. The North Korean's archaic language and oddball tactics brings further light onto their time warped position in today's world order and dangerous uncertainty if the situation escalates. This seems to be out of a twisted "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" with Kim Jong Il being a delusional Napoleon (without the comparable intelligence, military brilliance, or drive of the tyrannical Frenchman) misplaced in today's modern world.

From The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal:

Last week John Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control, offered some mild criticism of North Korea's horrific regime. As the Washington Post notes, Bolton "described life in North Korea as 'a hellish nightmare' and called Kim [Jong Il] a 'tyrannical rogue.' "

Yesterday, the Post reports, Pyongyang's preposterous potentate "fired back":

In a statement attributed to a spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry, Pyongyang said: "We know that there are several hawks within the present U.S. administration but have not yet found out such rude human scum as Bolton. What he uttered is no more than rubbish which can be let loose only by a beastly man bereft of reason."

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On Saturday, the Associated Press reports, Pyongyang "warned that any moves to discuss its suspected nuclear weapons programs at the United Nations would 'hamstring' efforts for dialogue and be a 'prelude to war.' " Will the U.N. take this challenge to its authority lying down?


One of Bolton's recent articles below. Sent by a family friend:

A Dictatorship at the Crossroads
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By JOHN R. BOLTON

The brazenness of Kim Jong Il's behavior in the past year is striking. While nuclear blackmail used to be the province of fictional spy movies, Kim Jong Il is forcing us to live that reality as we enter the new millennium. To give in to his extortionist demands would only encourage him, and perhaps more ominously, other would-be tyrants around the world. One needs little reminding that we have tested Kim Jong Il's intentions many times before -- a test he has consistently failed. Since 1994, billions of dollars in economic and energy assistance have flowed into the coffers of Pyongyang to buy off their nuclear weapons program. Nine years later, Kim Jong Il has repaid us by threatening the world with not one, but two separate nuclear weapons programs -- one based on plutonium, the other highly-enriched uranium.

If history is any guide, Kim Jong Il probably expects that his current threats will result in newfound legitimacy and billions of dollars of economic and energy assistance pouring into his failed economy. In this case, however, history is not an especially good guide -- a page has been turned. Particularly after Sept. 11, the world is acutely aware of the danger posed to civilian populations by weapons of mass destruction being developed by tyrannical rogue state leaders like Kim Jong Il or falling into the hands of terrorists.

In 1994, North Korea could have chosen to enter the international community on a new and different footing. While communist dictatorships were collapsing or reforming across the globe, there was even hope that Kim Il Sung's North Korea would follow suit. When power passed to Kim Jong Il, the world hoped he would be more enlightened and recognize the benefits of participating in the global community -- as opposed to threatening and blackmailing it. Unfortunately, this still has not come to pass. Even a cursory glance of the first decade of Kim Jong Il's dictatorial reign suggests that he has done nothing but squander opportunity after opportunity, olive branch after olive branch.

Kim Jong Il, of course, has not had to endure the consequences of his failed policies. While he lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty, scrounging the ground for food. For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare. As reported by the U.S. State Department report on human rights, it is believed that some 400,000 persons died in prison since 1972 and that starvation and executions were common. Entire families, including children, were imprisoned when only one member of the family was accused of a crime.

There is still hope that Kim Jong Il may change course. All civilized nations and peace-loving people hope this to be true. But Kim Jong Il must make the personal decision to do so and choose a different path.

The United States seeks a peaceful solution to this situation. U.S. President George W. Bush has unambiguously led the way in mobilizing world public opinion to support finding a lasting multilateral solution to a problem that threatens the security of the entire world. The operative term is "multilateral." It would be the height of irresponsibility for the Bush administration to enter into another bilateral agreement with the Kim Jong Il dictatorship. The Clinton administration bravely tried with the Agreed Framework but failed because Kim Jong Il instructed his subordinates to systematically violate it in secret. To enter into a similar type of agreement again would simply postpone the problem for some future administration -- something the Bush administration will not do.

Postponing the elimination of Kim Jong Il's nuclear weapons program will only allow him time to amass even more nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and to develop even longer range missiles. Any doubts that Kim Jong Il would peddle nuclear materials or nuclear weapons to any buyer on the international market were dispelled last April when his envoy threatened to do just that.

This will not stand. Some have speculated that the U.S. is resigned to nuclear weapons on the peninsula and will simply have to learn to live with nuclear weapons in the hands of a tyrannical dictator who has threatened to export them. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is why the U.S. is working so hard on pursuing the multilateral track in Beijing. This track is alive and well, but the ball is in North Korea's court. The key now is to get South Korea and Japan, and ultimately Russia and others, a seat at the table. As crucial players in the region, and the countries most threatened by Kim Jong Il, the roles of Seoul and Tokyo are vital to finding any permanent solution. Those with a direct stake in the outcome must be part of the process.

While the Beijing track is on course, prudence suggests that the U.S. pursue other tracks as well. We seek a peaceful solution to resolve the threat posed by Kim Jong Il, but all options are on the table. There are two complementary tracks that we are pursuing now.

The first is action through the United Nations Security Council. As the U.N. body charged with protecting international peace and security, it could play an important role in helping to reach a peaceful settlement. Unfortunately, the council is not playing the part it should. It was six months ago that the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted overwhelmingly to report North Korea's violations to the Security Council.

To date, virtually nothing has happened. Appropriate and timely action by the Security Council would complement efforts on the multilateral track in Beijing. Just as important, it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the council takes its responsibilities seriously. When North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty the first time in March 1993, the council took action within a month. Ignoring this issue will not make it go away -- it will only reduce confidence in the council and suggest to proliferators that they can sell their deadly arsenals with impunity.

The other track is the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI. The last year has seen Kim Jong Il accelerate his WMD programs, particularly on the nuclear front. Brazenly threatening to demonstrate, even export, nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Il and his supporters have defied the unanimous will of the international community.

If Pyongyang thought the international community would simply ignore its threats -- it was mistaken. The second meeting of the PSI, recently held in Brisbane, Australia, "agreed to move quickly on direct, practical measures to impede the trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, missiles and related items." Specifically, on "defining actions necessary to collectively or individually interdict shipments of WMD or missiles and related items at sea, in the air or on land."

Just as the South Korean Ministry of National Defense recently defined North Korea as the "main enemy," the nations participating in the PSI put North Korea and Iran at the top of the list of proliferant countries. That North Korea has earned this dubious distinction should come as little surprise in light of Pyongyang's trafficking in death and destruction to keep Kim Jong Il in power. It is practically their only source of hard currency earnings, unless of course you add narcotics and other illegal activities.

Already, operational training exercises on interdiction utilizing both military and civilian assets are being planned. Kim Jong Il would be wise to consider diversifying his export base to something besides weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. The international community's tolerance for actions that defy global norms is fast shrinking. There is growing political will to take concrete steps to prevent dictators such as Kim Jong Il from profiting in ill-gotten gains.

This choice is Kim Jong Il's and his alone. In coordination with its allies, the U.S. is prepared to welcome a reformed North Korea into the world of civilized nations. This would mean, however, that Kim Jong Il makes the political decision to undergo sweeping reforms. A good start would be to respect the human rights of his people and not starve them to death or put them in death camps.

It would also mean respecting international norms and abiding by international commitments and giving up their extensive chemical and biological weapons programs. And it will certainly require Kim Jong Il to dismantle his nuclear weapons program -- completely, verifiably, and irreversibly.

The days of DPRK blackmail are over. Kim Jong Il has already squandered the first decade of his rule. To continue down the path toward nuclear weapons will squander his legacy as well. The choice is his to make -- but whichever path he does choose -- the United States and its allies are prepared. Let us hope he makes the right choice.


Mr. Bolton is the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. This is an edited extract of his speech to the East Asia Institute in Seoul yesterday.