An American diplomat left North Korea on 9th May with boxes of documents (approximately 18,000 secret papers) containing details of two decades of Pyongyang’s nuclear secrets. That was the beginning of a process of undoing a long standing global-Asian tension. The unbending North Korea gave the signal of budging and the US was always there to make room. Prez Bush has responded by announcing that he would lift trade sanctions dating back to the 1950-53 conflict and remove North Korea from the US terrorism blacklist. It was necessary for him to score a foreign policy win before quitting his office later this year, but his declaration came with a rider - he said that the move could be reversed if North Korea fails to comply with US demands and abandon its nuclear program in a verifiable way.

Issuing a statement from White House, he left ample signs of his misgivings about North Korea, when he said,

We will trust you only to the extent you fulfill your promises.

Despite that, Mr Bush notified Congress that in 45 days, he intended to take North Korea off the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.

However, the result could not have come at a more opportune moment for China. Barely six weeks before the Olympics, Beijing is able to show the world that it has used its influence to break the deadlock. A State Department statement said that the reclusive state has handed China an arms dossier of its nuclear activities. The 60-page document covers nuclear production back to 1986 and includes information on the country’s plutonium program, uranium enrichment and proliferation activities. It also promises to demolish the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. North Korea can now glimpse a route to emerging from its self-imposed isolation though UN sanctions would remain in place.

Its pariah status has benefited no one, and certainly its people have suffered a lot. It also offers the best hope so far of the two countries — which are technically still at war — negotiating a peace treaty and establishing conventional diplomatic ties.

However, the development has triggered a discussion about the message of this whole episode. There are people who think that the Bush benevolence would prompt many to consider it a weakness towards nations which indulge in unscrupulous designs. Weapons of mass destruction can be developed with a certain amount of assurance. Others view it as a win for the six nations talk.

Source : Times Online264998