Immediately after it promised the United States to freeze its nuclear facilities, North Korea allegedly started enriching uranium with the help of the “father” of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

When Pakistan conducted a nuclear test in 1998, North Korea sent scores of scientists as observers. Robert Gallucci, the U.S. delegate to the Geneva talks, said he knew North Korea needed to give up its nuclear development program. Now he is saying he was deceived.

When the Geneva Accords were signed, our president Kim Young-sam boasted a “framework has been laid for the basic solution to the North Korean nuclear problem and for stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula." The following day, officials in the ruling Democratic Liberal Party said, "We should throw a party for Gallucci." Local elections were due in South Korea.

Twelve years later, North Korea finally conducted a nuclear test, not by accident right before the mid-term elections in the U.S. Driven into a corner in the aftermath of his party's defeat in the mid-terms, President George W. Bush was under pressure to achieve something in the six-party talks with North Korea. The result was the agreement signed in Beijing on Feb. 13.

The day after, Bush gave a press conference. There, he started talking unprompted about his achievement, saying he wanted to talk about “diplomatic progress in the Far East." Thirsty for praise, Bush and his associates took turns praising themselves. As Senator Joseph Biden has said, an agreement of this kind could have been reached years ago, yet it was only after suffering an election defeat that the Bush administration suddenly changed course and made a great fuss about it.

In a meeting with Korean nationals in Italy after the latest round of the six-party talks wound up, President Roh Moo-hyun said, "We've resolved the North Korean nuclear crisis." Roh knows too well that the nuclear crisis has not been resolved and only a first step was taken. But he wanted to say, "We've resolved it," so he did. Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said we have reached a “turning point.” With the presidential election months away, the ruling party seems even more excited than the DLP 13 years ago, and is calling for an inter-Korean summit. Those in the ruling camp are in a festive mood, talking about a "precious moment for the nation" or a "gift for the Lunar New Year."

To be sure, the six-party agreement is significant. If the North Korean nuclear facilities are disabled as it stipulates, that would be a genuine first step toward the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program. But there is still a long way to go even after the nuclear facilities are "disabled." Both North Korean deputy foreign minister Kang Sok-ju and chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan have said, "We haven't taken pains to produce nuclear weapons only to give them up." An increasing number of experts, including Don Oberdorfer, chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS, are saying there is no chance North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons. Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University said, "The United States has revised its North Korea policy in such a way as not to dismantle North Korean nuclear facilities, but to block proliferation of North Korea's nuclear weapons." He means that the U.S. is bound to acknowledge the North as a de facto nuclear power.

No nation in history has conducted a nuclear test and then given up its nuclear weapons. Why should North Korea be different? A rough road lies ahead, but our leaders are busy boasting instead of recognizing the weight of their task.

It is common for politicians everywhere to make political capital of anything as elections approach. But we must not let the North Korean nuclear crisis be handled that way. North Korea was able to produce its nuclear weapons because successive governments in South Korea and the U.S. muddled the goal of dismantling the North’s nuclear facilities with their individual domestic politics.

Thirteen years ago when the Geneva Accord was reached, Clinton told Kim Young-sam over phone he would resolutely punish North Korea if it breaks its promise. Despite then going on to conduct a nuclear test, North Korea has gained more than it has lost. If they really wanted to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program, both South Korea and the U.S. should stop their political posturing.