[imText1]Former U.S. State Department of Korea country director, Professor David Straub of John Hopkins University said on the 4th, “Though the Bush Administration’s North Korea policy is being influenced by Vice-President Cheney’s impact on President Bush, ultimately it is being drafted under President Bush’s own decision.”
As Radio Free Asia Broadcasting (RFA) informed, at a conference sponsored by the Asia Foundation in New York, Professor Straub revealed, “As much as the U.S.’ North Korea policy is essentially settled by President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, there will not be much change to the position of power.”
Professor Straub said, “There is widespread misunderstanding on the Bush Administration’s North Korea policy,” and “Though it is true that President Bush said ‘Whatever the strategic plan, we will not be removed from the top of the mantelpiece’ regarding North Korea, even so, this concept has never been seriously deliberated nor implemented.”
Furthermore he urged, “Even the ‘regime change’ in which the Bush Administration has started to adamantly utilize against North Korea was not and still is not the Bush Administration’s North Korea policy.”
Then he said, “Irrelevant to which North Korea policy the U.S. or South Korea proposes, in order to succeed, the two countries must cooperate,” and warned, “If they do not, only time will have been wasted and in the end, North Korea will be the one sniggering down on the U.S. and South Korea.”
Further, he said, “The North Korea nuke issue is an issue that has persisted for more than 50 years and cannot be resolved in a day,” emphasizing patience from member states of the six party talks.
On a different note, despite North Korea’s nuclear experiment, Professor Straub forecasts an optimistic Korea-U.S. alliance and said, “The future of the Korea-U.S. alliance lies basically in the North Korea issue.”
