US balancing act over Korean weapons

North Korea spends large amounts on its military

By Jon Leyne BBC State Department correspondent

The North Korean revelations have justified the scepticism of hardliners within the Bush administration - just when they could have done without it.

No peaceful nation wants to see a nuclear-armed North Korea

State Department official

Sceptics within this administration have always argued that North Korea cannot be trusted.

They have long suspected that the North Koreans have been cheating on the pledge made in 1994 not to develop nuclear weapons.

But instead of a triumphant news conference in Washington - with "I told you so" as the theme - there has been almost silence from the administration.

Double standard?

On the face of it, the latest news out of North Korea, gives some backing to those in the administration who have wider doubts about the worth of international arms agreements.

Kim Jong-il says North Korea is harmless

After all, it now appears that just at the time North Korea signed onto the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1994, it was actually stepping up its nuclear programme.

But the Bush administration tried to soften the impact of the news.

The latest revelations were withheld for 12 days, and then leaked out in the dead of night.

It is clear that President George W Bush does not want another crisis to distract from his focus on Iraq.

But the different approach towards North Korea is bound to produce accusations of a double standard.

Unlike the aggressive stance towards Iraq, the administration is dispatching a diplomatic team to the region.

Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly will be travelling to the region for talks, according to the US State Department.

"We seek a peaceful resolution of this situation. Everyone in the region has a stake in this issue and no peaceful nation wants to see a nuclear-armed North Korea," according to a State Department statement.

Little choice

But almost everyone who has dealt with North Korea also accepts that there is no easy military solution to this problem.

North Korea has test-fired missiles

In the South Korean capital, Seoul, tens of thousands of American troops are within easy missile range of the north.

Even with conventional weapons, North Korea could inflict almost unimaginable casualties.

Instead, the Bush administration has been reduced to calling on the North Koreans to adhere to the very agreements it has broken.

The US State Department says that North Korea's nuclear weapons programme is a violation of the Agreed Framework as well as under the Non Proliferation Treaty, its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement, and the Joint North-South Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Arms control has shown itself to be both unworkable and indispensable.