Word: blackmailing
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...with Washington demanded by Pyongyang - was a small victory for U.S. diplomacy. But as the August 27 meeting in Beijing draws near, anxiety is growing over what will transpire there. The Bush Administration insists that North Korea not be offered concessions to reward nuclear blackmail, and the presence of China, Russia, South Korea and Japan will certainly add to the pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program and submit to a tough inspection and verification regime. At the same time all four countries expect Washington to assuage North Korean concerns, particularly through offering Pyongyang security guarantees - in other words...
...public, the Bush Administration has always scorned a deal under which the North would be rewarded for its blackmail tactics. Hawks like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld think an agreement of that type during the Clinton Administration allowed Pyongyang to further develop its nuclear programs, and they have resisted direct talks with the North. Instead, they favor increasing sanctions and the interdiction of materiel vital to the North's programs...
According to Baer, the Saudis can do no right. Even when they sink a trillion dollars into U.S. banks, he sees only potential blackmail and warns of dire consequences if the money is ever withdrawn. Or when the Saudis help the U.S. by keeping a lid on oil prices, he labels the assistance nothing more than blood money. Baer argues, somewhat implausibly, that the monarchy's demise is imminent. In that event, he suggests--even more implausibly--that the U.S. seriously con-sider a military takeover of the oil fields...
...Preoccupied with Iraq, the Bush Administration had no interest in a simultaneous military crisis with North Korea, nor does the military option seem as viable on the Korean Peninsula given the vulnerability of Seoul to North Korean attack. But, as President Bush has commented emphatically, succumbing to blackmail by negotiating a deal that appears to reward Pyongyang’s illicit nuclear behavior is equally unattractive; indeed, the President has deemed this unacceptable. Washington has placed some hope in the possibility that multilateral pressure might bring Pyongyang to its senses and has viewed China—North Korea?...
...those ill-fated talks, the North claimed to have the Bomb already?and insisted on a U.S. security guarantee, normalized relations and economic aid as the price for giving it up. "They're up to their old blackmail game," Bush said. Rather than pay up, Washington hawks now hope to persuade China, Japan and South Korea to rein in Pyongyang with economic sanctions, perhaps even a blockade that would halt Kim's arms and drug sales, the regime's main sources of hard currency...