Several days ago we predicted that the Bush administration’s awkward climb-down would end with their embracing a policy close to, if not identical to, that pursued by the Clinton administration: i.e., a mix of threats and offers of aid to induce the North Koreans to abandon their nuclear program. And now we have the other shoe dropping. After a meeting with South Korean officials this morning in Seoul, Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly said that “Once we get beyond nuclear weapons, there may be opportunities with the U.S., with private investors, with other countries to help North Korea in the energy area.” It’s a grudging statement. But the interpretation of Lee Chung Min, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Yonsei University, quoted in the Washington Post has it just right. “It is a concession, a change of position. It’s an indication of the Bush administration really wanting to settle this diplomatically and probably under a lot of pressure to do so.”
