DNC: The Bush Administration's Failed North Korea Policy

DNC: The Bush Administration's Failed North Korea Policy

Washington, DC - Today, President Bush addressed North Korea's announcement of their alleged nuclear test over the weekend. Over the last four years, the Bush Administration has outsourced our diplomacy with North Korea to other nations and failed to take the lead in making sure America remains safe and secure.

"Today's announcement is further evidence that President Bush has taken his eye off the ball, allowing a member of the so-called ‘axis of evil' to allegedly test a nuclear weapon," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "First, President Bush aided and abetted the outsourcing of American jobs, and now he's outsourced our diplomacy as well. This development on the Korean Peninsula is further proof that you can't trust Republicans to keep America safe. Under the President's watch, North Korea has become more dangerous and Iran continues to threaten its neighbors and America. Democrats remain committed to a foreign policy that is both tough and smart."

Experts Say Bush Administration Strategy Has Claimed Credit For Diplomatic Process But Failed to Take Any Responsibility for a Lack of Results. A report by the National Security Advisory Group issued in July of 2005 states that "Since 9/11, in the face of North Korea's runaway nuclear program, U.S. policymakers: did nothing as North Korea crossed redline after redline; claimed credit for diplomatic process (the Six-Party Talks) but have taken no responsibility for total lack of results; attempted to outsource the issue to China and then blame the failure on China; [and] tried to blame the Clinton administration, the administration that actually stopped plutonium production in North Korea." The report continues by saying that during the Clinton Administration, North Korea had no plutonium, but during the Bush Administration, North Korea has at least four to six nuclear weapons worth of plutonium. [Worst Weapons in Worst Hands, The National Security Advisory Group, July 2005]

North Korea Has Dramatically Increased Its Weapons Material Stockpile under the Bush Administration. When President Bush took office in 2000, Pyongyang had enough fissile material to manufacture 1-2 nuclear weapons. Today, experts believe that North Korea possesses material sufficient to build between 4 and 13 nuclear weapons and, unless an agreement is reached to stop the country's program, it is estimated that Pyongyang will have enough material to manufacture between 8 and 17 nuclear weapons by 2008. [Institute for Science and International Security, 6/26/06]

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