Korea-US drifting towards war

By Steve Gilliard

U.S., N. Korea Drifting Toward War, Perry Warns
Former Defense Secretary Says Standoff Increases Risk of Terrorists Obtaining Nuclear Device

By Thomas E. Ricks and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 15, 2003; Page A14

Former defense secretary William Perry warned that the United States and North Korea are drifting toward war, perhaps as early as this year, in an increasingly dangerous standoff that also could result in terrorists being able to purchase a North Korean nuclear device and plant it in a U.S. city.

"I think we are losing control" of the situation, said Perry, who believes North Korea soon will have enough nuclear warheads to begin exploding them in tests and exporting them to terrorists and other U.S. adversaries. "The nuclear program now underway in North Korea poses an imminent danger of nuclear weapons being detonated in American cities," he said in an interview.

Perry added that he reached his conclusions after extensive conversations with senior Bush administration officials, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and senior officials in China.

................

From his discussions, Perry has concluded the president simply won't enter into genuine talks with Pyongyang's Stalinist government. "My theory is the reason we don't have a policy on this, and we aren't negotiating, is the president himself," Perry said. "I think he has come to the conclusion that Kim Jong Il is evil and loathsome and it is immoral to negotiate with him."

From faith-based intelligence to faith-based foreign relations.

Posted July 15, 2003 10:04 AM