Presidential Contenders Chime in on Proliferation

U.S. presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton called on the United States to speed up its own disarmament efforts and supported diplomacy to disable North Korea’s nuclear program, while fellow contender Senator John McCain urged caution to ensure Pyongyang is serious about its denuclearization commitments, the Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 2).

Clinton (D-N.Y.) criticized Bush administration policy on North Korea in an essay in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs magazine (see related GSN story, today).

“Like Iran, North Korea responded to the Bush administration's effort to isolate it by accelerating its nuclear program, conducting a nuclear test, and building more nuclear weapons,” Clinton wrote.

“Only since the State Department returned to diplomacy have we been able, belatedly, to make progress,” she stated.

Clinton added that the United States must shrink its own nuclear stockpile to put pressure on Iran and North Korea to shutter their nuclear programs.

A stronger U.S. denuclearization effort, she said, would “build support for the coalitions we need to address the threat of nuclear proliferation and help the United States regain the moral high ground.”  She pledged, if elected, to seek a pact with Russia under which both nations would make significant reductions to their nuclear stockpiles, Yonhap reported.

“This dramatic initiative would send a strong message of nuclear restraint to the world, while we retain enough strength to deter others from trying to match our arsenal,” Clinton said. 

McCain (R-Ariz.) expressed skepticism in his Foreign Affairs piece that North Korea would follow up on its recent pledges to close its nuclear facilities and declare all of its nuclear materials and equipment.

“It is unclear today whether North Korea is truly committed to verifiable denuclearization and a full accounting of all its nuclear materials and facilities, two steps that are necessary before any lasting diplomatic agreement can be reached,” he wrote.

“Future talks must take into account North Korea's ballistic missile programs, its abduction of Japanese citizens, and its support for terrorism and proliferation,” McCain said.

He called for renegotiation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including determining whether non-nuclear weapons states should be allowed to use nuclear technology and allowing immediate suspension of nuclear exports to suspected treaty violators until they prove their compliance with international safeguards.  The International Atomic Energy Agency also needs more funding to ensure it can carry out its nuclear monitoring and safeguards work, McCain said (Yonhap News Agency, Oct. 16).

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