U.S. Notified North Korea of "Red Line" Last Year

[oldhat]

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2004122480708

U.S. Notified North Korea of "Red Line" Last Year

DECEMBER 23, 2004 23:01
by Hun-Joo Cho ([e-mail])

According to U.S. special envoy to North Korea Jack Pritchard on December 23, the U.S. notified North Korea of the so-called “nuclear red line,” which means that the U.S. will take strong measures if North Korea transfers nuclear materials to a third country in August last year.

As a current visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, Jack Pritchard stated in an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun that he said this when he met a North Korean official at the time.

The newspaper reported citing a diplomatic source that it appeared that North Korea had accepted this as the Bush administration’s policy rather than a personal opinion of Mr. Pritchard, the former U.S. special envoy.

North Korea has kept silent with regard to its nuclear transfer since Mr. Pritchard, the former U.S. special envoy, mentioned the nuclear red line in August last year.

Mr. Pritchard also added, “It is obvious that the Bush administration does not care about North Korea’s possession of a small amount of nuclear material.”


Concerning this, the Yomiuri Shimbun interpreted that the Bush administration has put emphasis on realistic measures to prevent North Korea from importing or transferring its nuclear material rather than preventing its nuclear development.