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The U.S. administration is treading dangerous ground with actions that have brought high-level talks with North Korea screeching to a halt, the New York Times warned Tuesday. The daily singled out U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow¡¯s description of Pyongyang as a ¡°criminal regime¡± as an example of the name-calling it says the Bush administration has reverted to.
In an editorial titled ¡°Diplomacy's Fleeting Moment in Korea¡± the paper says, "It makes little sense for the Bush administration to return to name-calling or to rule out high-level talks on the Patriot Act sanctions. That's not just disappointing. It is extremely dangerous." Washington has angered Pyongyang by refusing to negotiate on its freeze of North Korean firms¡¯ assets over the Stalinist country¡¯s alleged counterfeiting and other criminal activities.
"Negotiating is hard and frustrating," the daily concedes. "Last summer, Washington toned down its language and tried the harder road of diplomacy. The result, in September, was a breakthrough accord in which North Korea committed itself in principle to dismantling its nuclear weapons programs, returning to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and admitting international nuclear inspectors." But it was not to last. "Unfortunately, things have been going downhill ever since, and both sides are to blame. North Korea landed the first blow 24 hours after the deal was announced by claiming the right to acquire a civilian power reactor even before it dismantled its nuclear weapons programs. The next month, Washington imposed new sanctions¡¦ and then declined to negotiate with North Korea about lifting those sanctions."
In response, the North vowed to boycott six-party talks. "Then Washington matched that show of childish petulance by getting back into the name-calling game, with the new American ambassador to South Korea labeling the North a 'criminal regime,¡¯¡± the Times says. "That may be accurate, but it is not the sort of thing diplomats say publicly when their countries are engaged in delicate diplomacy. The North can afford to take its time over resolving the nuclear issue, wasting diplomatic energy on disruptive and bullying tactics. The United States cannot afford that luxury."
The editorial concludes with an urgent call to resume negotiations. "No one disputes that North Korea is unpredictable. No one disputes that it has the means to build nuclear weapons. The world cannot afford to let the chance of holding the North to its September promise be lost in the shouting."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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