Nuclear Chess in North Korea

While watching the documentary, one of the main things that struck me was how basically irresponsible Bush's policy towards North Korea nuclear proliferation really is. That is especially obvious because it seemed like Clinton'sadministration was fairly close to getting Kim to vow not to make bombs; it is faintly ridiculous and childish that Bush stopped talks and refuses to negotiate with North Korea because he "doesn't trust" Kim, I think there are a lot of people in decision-making positions that aren't entirely trustworthy but that doesn't mean that you refuse to try to negotiate with them. I forget who said it (maybe Albright or the other woman), but they said that it is extremely hard to solve anything if the administration has said that giving anything to North Korea is "appeasement"- part of negotiating is compromising somehow. That stance makes it impossible to accomplish anything, which is not in the interests of either the US or North Korea.

I do understand the problem that some people had with Clinton's policy of "appeasement", though, because the "appeasement" money did not really help the North Korean people, it just help the military and Kim. Clinton's policy also was "paying the North Koreans to not do anything dangerous", as one of the interviewees put it, which isn't the best way to solve the problems with North Korean relations. But nothing will get difinitively solved while the current balance of power remains as it is.