Next U.S. president should build on past accomplishments: former diplomat

By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- A former top U.S. diplomat on Wednesday asked the next
U.S. president not to throw away critical accomplishments made in past
negotiations on scrapping North Korea's nuclear arms program.
The former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Evans Revere, said the Bush
administration deserves credit for "its determination and the intense diplomacy"
it pursued, which have transformed the U.S. approach to North Korea.
Revere noted, however, that much of the diplomatic energy expended by the U.S. on
the North Korea issue over the past three years has been aimed at undoing the
damage done by earlier policy decisions by the same administration.
"I hope he (the next president) will build on some of the accomplishments of the
past. But as he does so, I think it's important for this new president to
understand what we've been through in the last eight years," said Revere, who
serves as president of the U.S.-based Korea Society, at an international forum in
Seoul.
The stalled six-party talks involving the United States, China, Japan, Russia and
the two Koreas will likely resume soon to address ways of verifying the North's
declaration of its nuclear programs presented by Pyongyang months ago, according
to officials in Seoul and Washington.
Earlier this month, the United States took North Korea off a list of state
sponsors of terror for the first time in 20 years. Washington said it delisted
Pyongyang after it agreed to a package of measures to verify its nuclear
declaration.
North Korea, in return, resumed disabling its main nuclear plant at Yongbyon and
brought back international inspectors to the plant.
"In getting to where it is today, the U.S. has taken a very torturous and some
would say a tragic route, including allowing the demise of the agreed framework
which for all of its flaws managed to keep a lid on North Korea's ability to
produce additional nuclear weapons material," Revere said.
In the forum, titled "Peace on the Korean Peninsula and a Future of Unification,"
Revere suggested the new U.S. government needs to restore the post of a senior
presidential envoy, like the one held by William Perry under the former Clinton
government, to smooth all negotiations with Pyongyang.
"Adding to the level of dialogue that we currently conduct with the DPRK, my
suggestion would be for the U.S. to seriously consider appointing a senior level
presidential envoy who would be able to travel to Pyongyang and the other
capitals as the personal representative of the U.S. president," he said.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of
North Korea.
"A person who would be senior enough and credible enough to be able to speak
directly and authoritatively on behalf of the U.S. president" should be named, he
stressed.