So What IS the Deal with Nicholas Burns?

The Washington Times reports that while Burns is not one of Secretary Rice’s inner circle from her NSC tenure, Burns is an accomplished survivor despite political changes in Washington.

Mr. Burns, the department’s third-ranking official after Miss Rice and her
deputy, Robert B. Zoellick, is the only career Foreign Service officer among the
undersecretaries. Even though Mr. Burns, whose ability to please both Republican
and Democratic administrations has taken him far and high, is considered the
star of the top management team, Karen P. Hughes, undersecretary for public
diplomacy and public affairs, has received the most public attention.

There’s a theory about that Burns is behind the State Department’s noncompliance with 22 U.S.C. 7843, a binding federal statute requiring U.S. embassies to take in North Korean refugees, and for State’s general recalcitrance in implementing the North Korean Human Rights Act. Congress held hearings last year to assess the progress of implementation, and new hearings seem likely, in light of both the abyssimal progress since then and North Korea’s particularly obnoxious behavior of late.

Here’s another tip: at least one human rights group, one that’s led by a Bush supporter, is considering filing a lawsuit to enforce the law.