It seems that North Korea has come
to believe that there will be no real consequences attached to a failure to
cooperate on the POW/MIA accounting.
They held up the repatriation of four sets of remains last spring, which
caused three recovery operations to be canceled and placed the whole recovery
program in pause for a good six months.
They then allowed one joint operation, but soon demanded a humanitarian
aid package before any further remains recovery operations would be
planned. DPMO estimates the cost of
their demand to be somewhere between 20 and 40 million dollars. Several months later, the two sides are
still talking about meeting, but nothing has moved along.
Meanwhile, higher-level U.S. and N.K. officials have met in New
York to discuss a broad range of issues between the two countries, with an eye
toward further development of bi-lateral relations. These talks presented an important opportunity to impress upon
the North Korean government that the United States government is serious about
getting the fullest possible accounting for its missing servicemen. If that message were not conveyed in these
talks, then how or when would it be conveyed with any credibility?
And yet, we are told by the State
Department that the POW/MIA issue was raised in these talks only ‘marginally’,
by someone other than the delegation heads, and the position focused on remains
recovery because the North Koreans have made it clear that they are not willing
to discuss the issue of unrepatriated Americans.
The issue of missing servicemen,
purportedly one of the nation’s highest priorities, got an “Oh, by the way...”
partial mention in the margins by the underling of an underling. This does not make governments sit up and
take notice.
And why would the State Department
allow the North Koreans to limit the agenda, thereby removing from the table
any discussion of the issue of live Americans?
We’ve got South Korean POWs from the Korean War escaping from North
Korea left and right these days. We’ve
had all sorts of live sightings of Americans in North Korea right into the
1990s. DPMO says it can’t ‘confirm’
them. That is not surprising, and it is
not justification for letting the issue fade into the margins...or beyond.
The issue of missing
servicemen...much larger than the project of remains recovery...should be at
the top of this government’s real priority list. The Clinton/Gore Administration’s policy
toward North Korea plainly is not structured that way.
Last November, after holding
hearings on the subject of North Korea’s threat to U.S. security, New York
Congressman Ben Gilman, Chairman of the House International Relations
Committee, wrote that “...the United States has replaced the Soviet Union as
the primary benefactor of North Korea, with some $645 million in aid over the
past five years. We supply half of North Korea’s heavy fuel oil needs and feed
one third of the population. It is as
if some foreign power fed 90 million Americans each day.”
The U.S. plays an enormous role in
North Korea’s economic viability. This
should give us substantial collateral with the North Korean government. And yet, we appear to be tippy toeing around
them, afraid to ruffle feathers. This
Administration’s foreign policy has allowed North Korea to put the United
States on the defensive. All North
Korea has to do is threaten peace, and the money and concessions keep rolling
in.
It becomes no wonder that we have
seen stalled and irrational negotiations that eat up time like it doesn’t
matter. It becomes perfectly clear why
we have seen no meaningful cooperation on the question of unrepatriated
American servicemen. Simply put...they
have nothing to gain and plenty to risk.
North Korea, China, Russia and the
other relevant countries should be required to bring to the table meaningful
results on the question of missing American servicemen, as a part of agreements
that offer them such benefits as American aid, American technology, alliance
with the American military, and preferred trading status with this country. Diplomatic chitchat won’t get the job
done. Neither will empty lip service in
Veterans Day speeches. What we need is
a foreign policy that is intended to get real answers to the hardest questions.