Lugar Expects North Korea to Remain Vexing Problem

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

By Tom Davies, Associated Press

October 10, 2006

North Korea's nuclear test is a sign of the difficulties that the United States will face with that country for years to come, Sen. Richard Lugar said Tuesday.

Lugar, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said he backed the Bush administration's decision to reject direct negotiations with the North Koreans.

He said he believed that the U.S. should work closely with South Korea, China, Japan and Russia in responding to the nuclear test because those countries face more immediate danger.

"Diplomacy still has a chance," the Indiana Republican said. "There is a possibility a formula can be found in which the North Koreans want to re-enter the world, want to deal with their neighbors. Otherwise, they are going to remain isolated, whether there are sanctions or not."

North Korea's continued development of nuclear weapons increases the chances of terrorist groups obtaining those weapons and shows a need for a change in diplomatic strategies by the Bush administration, said former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, a Democratic member of the 9/11 commission.

"We know from North Korea's history that they have almost always sold on the international market whatever they have developed," he said. "Through some neglect and some flawed strategy and taking your eye off the ball, we find ourselves in a deeper hole."

Lugar and Roemer, who were speaking at an Indianapolis forum sponsored by the Howey Political Report, both said China's involvement could be crucial to keeping North Korea's activities in check as China provides much needed food and economic aid to its communist ally and neighbor.

Lugar said that while he hoped for diplomatic progress, he did not expect a resolution anytime soon with North Korea.

"I don't see that coming in the next few days or weeks," Lugar said. "I think we have a lot of further diplomatic consolidation to do in the meanwhile."

Even if North Korea's communist government agreed to give up its nuclear ambitions, Lugar says its secretive history would leave doubts about whether it was hiding weapons.

"The suspicion will always be that this is not a regime that is very forthcoming and that we have a monitoring problem that is difficult, if not monumental," Lugar said.

Roemer, meanwhile, said steps needed to be taken to ensure North Korea could not export nuclear technology and faulted President Bush for neither working to isolate the country nor engaging in talks with its government. He said he believed Bush had shown too great an inclination toward leaving problems with Iraq, Iran and North Korea for the next president.

Intelligence estimates are that North Korea had about two nuclear devices when Bush took office in 2001 and now has about 10, Roemer said.

"This administration has lost a lot of time, and North Korea has developed a lot of weapons in that time period," he said. "Some type of change in strategy, endorsement of an approach, rather than straddling both approaches is essential."

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