Donald Trump puts past presidents to shame with North Korea policiesThe Hill, Mar 2, 2019, Tony Shaffer
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Yet, progress has still been made. Since the first summit in Singapore, North Korea has halted its missile testing, destroyed parts of its nuclear production plants, released three American hostages, and sent back the remains of fallen American soldiers. The United States, meanwhile, has made only temporary and reversible concessions, such as postponing military exercises with South Korea. That is a sharp rebuke of the past strategy our country has applied toward North Korea for decades, which basically amounted to giving the regime billions of dollars worth of aid in exchange for empty promises that were ignored as soon as the aid was delivered. A lack of accountability and any demand of a fair return on our investments is the lingering factual record of every prior administration.
While renewed conflict never broke out, nuclear weapons development soared in North Korea and it became more aggressive, due to the feckless nature of this “appeasementâ€Â foreign policy. In 1994, President Clinton reached an agreement with North Korea that provided $4 billion in aid in return for the regime gradually dismantling its nuclear program. The aid poured in, but North Korea only accelerated its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The agreement had lacked any verification process, and despite intelligence at the time indicating that North Korea was not complying, the drastic amount of money was provided anyway.
In 2007, President Bush signed a new agreement that gave $400 million worth of aid to North Korea in exchange for shuttering its main nuclear reactor. Once again, the United States honored its promise, while North Korea ignored it. President Obama did little more than talk, offering vague pronouncements that North Korea would face “consequencesâ€Â for its dangerous actions. While President Obama did impose fresh sanctions in response to nuclear weapons tests, he failed to secure any concessions from North Korea. There were provocations and bellicose behavior from North Korea on a regular basis, while nuclear weapons tests continued.
President Trump has already made more progress with North Korea in the past year than his predecessors managed over the course of more than two decades, He demonstrated that he will not cave and accept a bad deal as his predecessors did. There have been no new nuclear weapons tests or provocative ballistic missile launches.
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