BBC: "US says N Korea 'criminal regime' "- new US ambassador to S. Korea's

[Nothing Without Hope]

unprecedented public statements suggest hardliners in the Bush Administration have taken the upper hand in dealings with North Korea. N. Korea will doubtless be seriously furious about this, but I bet it plays real well to the GOP audience back home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4505960.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 7 December 2005, 11:04 GMT

US says N Korea 'criminal regime'

A senior US diplomat has branded North Korea a "criminal regime" involved in arms sales, drug trafficking and currency forgery.



Caption: Mr Vershbow became ambassador to South Korea in October

(snip)

Analysts believe the impoverished state is reliant on remittances from trafficking and currency forgery to shore up its failing economy.

(snip)

But connecting such allegations and publicly labeling North Korea a "criminal regime" is unprecedented.

Pyongyang is notoriously sensitive to such labels. US-North Korean relations were seriously damaged by President Bush's branding of the North as part of an "axis of evil" in 2002.

Some analysts suspect hardliners have seized the initiative once again inside the Bush administration and that could prove a significant obstacle to further progress in the nuclear talks.

I googled this new S. Korea ambassador - Alexander Vershbow - and found that he was formerly the US ambassador to the Russian Federation, which makes sense because that is his background and training. Before his Russian ambassadorship, he was U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 1998 to 2001. In fact, his background and his association with the US Dept of State suggest that perhaps he is some kind of protege of another Russia hand, Condi Rice. Here is the bio from the US State Dept site, written in 2001 when he was appointed ambassador to the Russian Federation:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/6175.htm

Alexander Vershbow was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation on July 17, 2001 and took up his duties on July 19, 2001. He is a career member of the Foreign Service, with rank of Career Minister, and has extensive experience in East-West relations and European security affairs.

From January 1998 until July 2001, Alexander Vershbow served as the U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). As U.S. Representative on the North Atlantic Council, Ambassador Vershbow was centrally involved in transforming NATO to meet the challenges of the post-cold war era, including the admission of new members and the development of relations with Russia through the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council. In June 2001, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell awarded Ambassador Vershbow the State Department's Distinguished Service Award for his work at NATO.

From 1994 to 1997, Alexander Vershbow served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. During this period, he helped shape U.S. Policy toward NATO enlargement, the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, and other U.S.-European issues. He was a principal member of the U.S. team that helped negotiate the founding act between NATO and the Russian Federation signed in 1997. In October 1997, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen presented Mr. Vershbow with the first annual Joseph J. Kruzel Award for his contributions to the cause of peace.

Ambassador Vershbow is a long-time student of Russian and East European Affairs. He received a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale College (1974) and a Master's Degree in International Relations and Certificate of the Russian Institute from Columbia University (1976). He has held a series of assignments since joining the Foreign Service in 1977, including postings to the U.S. Embassies in Moscow and London and Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks in Geneva. Ambassador Vershbow was director of the State Department's Office of Soviet Union Affairs during the last years of the USSR and participated in numerous U.S.-Soviet summits and ministerial meetings. In 1990, he was awarded the Anatoly Sharansky Freedom Award by the Union of Councils of Soviet Jews for his work in advancing the cause of Jewish emigration from the USSR.

In 1991, Ambassador Vershbow was posted to NATO as U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative and Charge d'affaires of the U.S. Mission, where he participated in NATO's earliest initiatives to forge cooperative relations with Russia and the other states of the former Warsaw Pact. He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs from 1993-1994, before joining the National Security Council Staff in 1994

(snip)

Vershbow's remarks on being nominated as S. Korea Ambassador are also available at the US State Dept web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive/2005/Sep/23-15750.html
It does not show any plan of such all-out attacks in the portions dealing with North Korea:

(snip)

Let me now turn to the challenge posed by North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In the Six Party Talks, we and the Republic of Korea have conveyed a common message to North Korea: that our objective is the complete, verifiable and permanent dismantlement of all its nuclear programs. Supported as well by Japan, China and Russia, we have made clear that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the key to long-term stability and cooperation in Northeast Asia, and to addressing North Korea's acute economic needs. The agreement reached in Beijing this week is a vital step toward the early achievement of these goals. However, as the President has emphasized, the key question is verification of the North Koreans' implementation of their commitments. If confirmed, I will make it a top priority to work with our ROK allies to help devise an effective verification regime so that the promise of this week's agreement can be fulfilled.

Looking beyond the Six Party Talks, it is also necessary to address the problem of North Korea's denial of basic human rights to its own people. Assistant Secretary Hill made this clear in his statement at the closing plenary session in Beijing on Monday. I look forward to working with our South Korean partners on ways to ease the suffering of the North Korean people and to promote reform in the DPRK, even as we provide humanitarian food assistance targeted to those most in need. The new U.S. Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea will be a key player in the Administration's efforts on this important issue, and I look forward to working with him as well.

(snip)

The bottom line to me is that the administration, speaking through this new ambassador to S. Korea (whose background is in NATO and the Russian Federation), has decided to go on the attack in public statements about N. Korea in an unprecedented way. The new BBC article on this says that some analysts see this as evidence that hardliners rather than diplomats now have the upper hand. It would appear to mean that they expect N. Korea to cave under this pressure. We shall have to see if they are right.

[stevietheman]

1. Pot, meet kettle...

it's just strange to see one criminal regime to refer to another criminal regime.

[cliss]

2. Yes, this is one story I'm following here on the DU.

I've been watching the lunatics in Washington prod N. Korea the way stupid people poke monkeys with a stick at the zoo.

They are damn foolish. I know the "Diplomats" in Washington think of themselves as brilliant and forward-thinking. They are just riverboat gamblers, who shake the dice with the entire world as their ante.

So far, their record isn't too good.

Pyongyang is going to retaliate for these words, probably tomorrow. Watch them call Bush "Human excrement" and a drug trafficer, himself. Stupid idiots. Thanks for your research.

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. YVW. It really does seem foolish to poke the insane tiger this way. It's

as if they decided to incite them deliberately. To what end? Starting another war to shore up public support?

I haven't been watching TV - has this gotten much press in the US? I'm betting it hasn't.

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. Are they TRYING to goad N. Korea into an aggressive act? It would be

good for polls and the Pentagon budget...

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Is this partly to cozy up to S Korea for BUSINESS REASONS? See this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1973555
thread title (12/8 LBN): U.S. looking to thwart $1 billion Israel-South Korea arms deal

Hmmm....

S. Korea is also one of the few countries still sending soldiers to Iraq too.

With the Bushies, it always comes down to money and power.