Albright & Co. should retreat to a monastery, flagellate themselves, and beg forgiveness

No one should be surprised North Korea secretly continued its nuclear weapons program despite having promised not to as a result of the Clinton administration’s 1994 “framework agreement.”

In March, 1993, the Center for Security Policy argued for the US to destroy North Korea’s nuclear weapons facilities, along the lines of the Israeli attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor.

In June, 1994, the Center criticized former president Jimmy Carter’s trip to North Korea as an unofficial representative of the Clinton administration, arguing that it set the United States on a dangerous process that would do nothing to eliminate Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. The Center warned, “thanks to President Carter’s intervention, Kim Il Sung has bought himself more time, restarted his confidence-building “dialogue” with the United States and assured that there will be no movement toward even ineffectual sanctions in the U.N. Security Council. And this has been achieved without having to give up his nuclear weapons program or allow the sort of comprehensive inspections needed to establish its true dimensions and certify its elimination.”

In October, 1994, the Center warned of the dangers of the nuclear “framework agreement” negotiated by US Special Envoy Robert Gallucci, stating, “the North Korean deal invites deadly, aggressive behavior around the globe.”

The Center argued, “The Clinton Administration can and should be held accountable for the diplomatic and strategic debacle the Gallucci agreement constitutes.”

Rather than appear on national television to advise on what the US should do now that the debacle proved true, former UN Ambassador and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the others responsible should apologize to the American people, lock themselves in a monastery and flagellate themselves, begging forgiveness and doing eternal penance.