Absolute Must Read: Chris Hill Explodes at Reporter Over Leaked Plan to Accept Incomplete, Incorrect N. Korean Declaration
James Rosen of Fox News has written the single most detailed and best-written criticism of Chris Hill’s Disagreed Framework I have yet read, and that certainly includes anything I’ve written. Rosen’s narration of Hill’s many public reassurances that he would accept nothing less than a “complete and correct” North Korean declaration is devastating. I had wished for the time to write something like it myself, and that is now done for me.
And yet that is not even the best part of Rosen’s piece. Reacting to a January report by Rosen (which I linked here) that Hill would accept an incomplete and incorrect North Korean declaration, Hill’s typing fingers sprouted venomous fangs:
In a series of angry e-mails, all on the record but unpublished until now, Hill vehemently denied the story. “Completely inaccurate,” he wrote. “This idea that we would ignore the most contentious items and take them up later is ridiculous. I don’t believe in “˜carve outs’ and even if I did (which I don’t) how in the world would this work in practical terms? Do you really think we could make concessions on the basis of an incomplete declaration, then somehow we would be able to return to the contentious issues AFTER ““ AFTER!!!??? — giving away all our leverage? Why? I can tell you this stupidity has never been under consideration by anyone who is part of the process or truly close to the process.
“I suspect,” Hill continued, “that you have sources who are a little out of it, a little frustrated either because they want the process to go forward or are afraid it might, and who are much more interested in manipulating you rather than enlightening you because I can assure you that nobody involved in this process has ever suggested this foolishness or floated such ideas because they don’t make any sense. Finally, Hill addressed, without invitation or foundation, what he assumed to be the reporter’s political leanings. “And, btw, I am a conservative, meaning I take this messy world as I see it and try to deal with painful reality, stay in channels, respect institutions, observe service discipline and follow instructions. You are not talking to conservatives. Believe me.
When the reporter politely thanked Hill and promised to distill his rant down to a quotable reaction, suitable for use in reporting, Hill shot back: “Just to be clear. I am calling your piece completely inaccurate. And since you are unable to provide a single named source — not a one, I have to wonder what you have been drinking (or smoking since you are obviously not a conservative). [Fox News]
In retrospect, it should have been easily predictable. First, Hill’s original deal mentioned “all its nuclear programs” but left the North Koreans several loopholes by failing to mention weapons, fissile material, uranium (plutonium was specifically mentioned; uranium wasn’t), or suspected proliferation (of which the White House was surely aware long before the Israelis bombed al-Kibar).
For each of these items, I suspected at the time that the ambiguity was deliberate, because North Korea simply didn’t agree. It wasn’t long before the North Koreans made their disagreement explicit, but Hill still got away with ambiguous answers (more) that few in Congress or the press bothered to pursue. Jack Pritchard has since carried back whatever additional confirmation we need: North Korea is flatly unwilling to disclose, dismantle, or disarm its nuclear arsenal or fissile material.
Given the President’s comments that they are not going to abandon Japan’s concerns, what’s this all mean? Are they going to hold back the second aid shipment for more answers and then the third for discussion about the Japanese abductions?
The US needs to stop worrying about offending the North Koreans. This timing is poor since I thought it was South Korea’s ‘sunshine’ that was gumming up the works. Now that it is gone, the US comes up with what appears to be it’s own version of the same thing.
Is this story so hot that no one in the know is willing to comment on it?
Japan’s concern about the past abductions is considered irrelevant and counterproductive by the other countries in this nuclear issue. The US pays only lip service to Japan. Other countries don’t even bother. They see it as an obstacle that Japan should stop trying to insert in this process.
And for what it’s worth, I consider China’s interest in propping up the North Korean regime’s stability to the last North Korean to be irrelevant and an obstacle to disarmament. China’s undercutting of economic pressure (ie., its unilateralist approach to UNSCR 1718) has been extremely counterproductive. Our own failure to invoke EO 13,382 on their banks gave them that option. But hey, countries bring their interests to the table on such matters … except for the United States, which has completely abandoned its own.
So now, Japan will be expected to fork over billions of yen to a country that kidnaps its citizens from its own damn country. There aren’t a lot of interests more vital than that, unless you’re one of the few who still believes that the 6PT are remotely likely to disarm North Korea.
Yeah, it’s totally irrelevant. The Japanese certainly don’t have any reason to care about their citizens being abducted. Who would, really? South Koreans? Their adbuctees were consigned to irrelevance a long time ago, and rightly so, especially for the purposes of the current negotiations. The sooner we all agree to let NK alone, the sooner it can start properly caring for its citizens.
{note – sarcastic}
“The sooner we all agree to let NK alone”
Right. the US should stop talking to them. There is no good that will come from it. Just let them do their own think. If this was the standard years ago, the regime just might have collapsed. Instead, it keeps getting a lifeline from one of the others at the table.
“Japan’s concern about the past abductions is considered irrelevant and counterproductive by the other countries in this nuclear issue.”
Well, of course it is. There is no reason for the Chinese, South Koreans, Russians, or even the US to be concerned with missing Japanese nationals. The Japanese government is demonstrating responsibility to the people it represents by pressing the issue of its kidnapped nationals.