By Dani Woodland
Although North Korea committed Monday to abort their nuclear weapons program, the long-awaited agreement could still fall through.
A spokesperson for North Korea said Tuesday they would begin dismantling their nuclear weapons program as soon as the United States agreed to allow North Korea to continue in their development of nuclear energy for electricity purposes.
?President Bush is in a hard spot right now,? said Mark Peterson, head of the Korean section of the Department of Near Eastern Languages at BYU. ?The only thing in the way is that Bush has drawn a line in the sand, saying we?re not going to do that.?
Six countries ? North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States ? met last week in Beijing and released the details of their agreement Monday.
According to the agreement, North Korea agreed to abandon all nuclear programs and return at an early date to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.
One expectation stated by North Korea in signing the agreement was their right to continue development of technology for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, namely light water reactors. The other six nations respectfully agreed in the talks to further discuss such a provision at ?an appropriate time.?
Light water reactors are considered a much safer source of nuclear power than heavy water reactors, and the by-products are much easier to regulate, Peterson said.
?All the other countries are now saying it?s okay ,? Peterson said. ?We?re under a lot of pressure right now to agree, but Bush says no.?
In a February 2004 speech at the National Defense University, President Bush expressed concern that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows nations like North Korea to ?produce nuclear material that can be used to build bombs under the cover of civilivan nuclear programs.?
In the same speech, President Bush proposed to ?expand our efforts to keep weapons from the Cold War and other dangerous materials out of the wrong hands.?
The President?s apparent classification of North Korea as ?the wrong hands? and subsequent refusal to accept the light water reactor provision falls on shaky territory, Peterson said.
?Bush is under the gun these days, what with trouble in Iraq and the heat he?s taking for the Katrina response, so he might want to compromise for the sake of looking like he can get a peace treaty,? he said. ?That?s a great incentive and the North Koreans know it.?