The Beginning...and the Beginning of the End?

“I doubt if at the time we went in, Truman...could foresee that it would be 50 years and we would still be there.”

Senator John Warner (R-VA) March 7, 2000

“After deliberation, we can determine whether it’s time to bring them out. It’s too early for anybody to say we ought to...bring them out now.”

Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), answering a question on removing U.S. troops from Korea June 18, 2000 (Evans, Novak, Hunt and Shields, CNN)

The Military Assessment

“70 percent of North Korea’s active duty force, about 700,000 troops, 2,000 tanks, 8,000 artillery pieces, are deployed within 100 miles of the Demilitarized Zone.”

General Thomas Schwartz, U.N. Command, Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Command March 7, 2000

“I think an ICBM with a return address and its signature is not a very good recipe for regime survival by a rogue regime like North Korea....”

Admiral Dennis Blair, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command March 7, 2000

“There are about 500 SCUD missiles that North Korea has that are aimed at the Republic of Korea. They also have the No Dong, about 100 missiles, and are now developing the Taepo Dong I and possibly the 2. So theater missile defense has to be and remains one of my priorities.”

General Thomas Schwartz, U.N. Command, Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Command March 7, 2000

Rogues are Out, Concerns are In

“We are now calling these states “states of concern” because we are concerned about their support for terrorist activity, their development of missiles, their desire to disrupt the international system. They remain – North Korea remains on the terrorist list and we are going to really be looking at how thsi relationship develops....

This [the North-South Korea summit] is clearly an important development. We want to see how the North-South relationship evolves from the statements that they signed. We have to make sure that North Korea is not a threat.”

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright answering a question on U.S.- North Korean relations Diane Rehm Show, WAMU-FM Washington, DC June 19, 2000

For more details and analysis, visit CDI's Asia Forum 
 

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