- Oct 9, 1999
- 72,636
- 47
- 91
Here's the Reuters story.
From the NY Times:
<< Fatherly Advice to the President on North Korea
By JANE PERLEZ
WASHINGTON, June 9 ? In an effort to influence one of his son's most crucial foreign policy decisions, former President George Bush sent to the president through his aides a memo forcefully arguing the need to reopen negotiations with North Korea, according to people who have seen the document.
The advice in the memo appears to have been largely incorporated into the announcement this week by President Bush that his administration would seek to talk to North Korea about a range of issues, including its missile program.
It was clear that former President Bush, who regards the author of the memo, Donald P. Gregg, as an expert on Asian affairs, wanted his son to adopt a more moderate position instead of going with the advice he was receiving from the Pentagon.
Mr. Gregg was a former ambassador to South Korea, and also advised the senior Mr. Bush on national security issues when he was vice president. The memo was first addressed to former President Bush, who then passed it on to his son.
Whether the former president has been influencing foreign policy at the White House has been a question of considerable curiosity in Washington ? and in foreign capitals ? with diplomats noting the disparity in knowledge and experience between father and son. The dispatch of the Gregg memo is the first concrete evidence of the elder Bush's hand in a specific policy arena, although at the time of the American spy plane incident in China, it was speculated that former President Bush was offering his son informal counsel.
In both the decision this week to offer talks with North Korea and in the handling of the spy plane that was forced down in China, moderate policy options prevailed.
Ari Fleischer, President Bush's spokesman, said that the Gregg memo was sent to the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, who passed "the thoughts in the note" to the president. He described this as one of many useful pieces of information passed to Mr. Bush from former foreign policy advisers like former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former Defense Secretary William J. Perry, who advised President Bill Clinton on Korea.
"The administration highly respects former Ambassador Gregg," Mr. Fleischer said.
He also said that he did not know whether President Bush had spoken to his father about Korea, but said that the president had a policy of keeping all conversations with his father private.
Mr. Gregg is president of the Korea Society, in New York, a position from which he closely follows relations between North and South Korea. He also attended an April seminar on North Korea in which former President Bush was the host at his presidential library at College Station, Tex. It was there that the senior Mr. Bush signaled that he favored re- opening talks with North Korea.
The memo by Mr. Gregg argued, according to those who have seen it, that Washington should re-engage with North Korea because not to do so would seriously undermine the current government in South Korea and hurt United States security interests in North Asia.
Mr. Gregg sent his advice to his former boss just as a contentious policy review on North Korea was under way within the Bush administration. The debate pitted hawkish officials at the Pentagon and the National Security Council, who are skeptical of serious talks with North Korea, against more moderate officials at the State Department and the National Security Council.
Mr. Gregg, a vocal supporter of Kim Dae Jung, the president of South Korea, and his engagement policies toward the North, is known to have been distressed at what was perceived as a rebuff of Mr. Kim when he visited the White House in March.
On that occasion, President Bush said the United States would not resume talks, which had gathered momentum at the end of the Clinton administration, any time soon. He also cast doubt on North Korea's trustworthiness in keeping agreements, a comment that in turn appeared to reflect badly on Mr. Kim's judgment. After his visit to Washington, Mr. Kim returned home to a chorus of criticism.
The announcement by President Bush last week that he would seek talks with North Korea was well received by the South Korean government. In Washington, experts offered mixed interpretations, including a view that the Pentagon and some members of the National Security Council might set such strict terms for the talks that the North Koreans might not respond favorably.
At the seminar at his library, former President Bush made remarks indicating that he believed that his son "would do the right thing," a participant said.
Former President Bush essentially told those at the gathering that the policy review on Korea under way at the White House was not unlike the review he conducted on the Soviet Union when he first came to office, according to several accounts. In 1989, the senior Mr. Bush recalled, his policy review on the Soviet Union led to a decision to hold talks with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and soon afterward the Soviet Union crumbled.
He suggested that a similar pattern could unfold between the two Koreas during his son's presidency, one of the participants said.
In a more public display of his support for reconciliation between the two Koreas, former President Bush has taped remarks for distribution at a meeting in South Korea next week, according to Korean officials.
The gathering on Cheju Island will mark the first anniversary of Kim Dae Jung's visit to North Korea, and is timed to encourage North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, to reciprocate with a trip to Seoul. The former president's taped remarks are bound to be taken seriously because of his standing in Asia ? not only as a former president, but also as a former ambassador to the United Nations and as the former leader of the United States liaison office in China.
The South Korean foreign minister, Han Seung Soo, who is in Washington for talks with senior Bush officials, said former President Bush was "genuinely respected by Koreans."
Mr. Han said he was encouraged by the announcement to seek talks with North Korea. "The Bush administration has offered a comprehensive approach," Mr. Han said. "We hope that North Korea will take it at face value and respond in a positive manner."
Of North Korea, Mr. Han said: "The ball is on their side."
He said he was also encouraged by the interest China was taking in promoting stability on the Korean peninsula.
But the danger of deterioration in relations between the United States and China that would adversely affect all of Asia was of some concern, he said.
In a report to be issued on Monday, a task force of Korea experts created by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York will urge the United States to "stand by its commitments" under the 1994 agreement with North Korea, which requires the United States to help provide fuel oil to North Korea to help alleviate its severe energy shortage. But the report notes that in the next two years North Korea will have to comply with a series of nonproliferation steps included in the agreement, and the report suggests that Mr. Bush make it clear "we will not accept any delay" in reaching those goals. >>
From the NY Times:
<< Fatherly Advice to the President on North Korea
By JANE PERLEZ
WASHINGTON, June 9 ? In an effort to influence one of his son's most crucial foreign policy decisions, former President George Bush sent to the president through his aides a memo forcefully arguing the need to reopen negotiations with North Korea, according to people who have seen the document.
The advice in the memo appears to have been largely incorporated into the announcement this week by President Bush that his administration would seek to talk to North Korea about a range of issues, including its missile program.
It was clear that former President Bush, who regards the author of the memo, Donald P. Gregg, as an expert on Asian affairs, wanted his son to adopt a more moderate position instead of going with the advice he was receiving from the Pentagon.
Mr. Gregg was a former ambassador to South Korea, and also advised the senior Mr. Bush on national security issues when he was vice president. The memo was first addressed to former President Bush, who then passed it on to his son.
Whether the former president has been influencing foreign policy at the White House has been a question of considerable curiosity in Washington ? and in foreign capitals ? with diplomats noting the disparity in knowledge and experience between father and son. The dispatch of the Gregg memo is the first concrete evidence of the elder Bush's hand in a specific policy arena, although at the time of the American spy plane incident in China, it was speculated that former President Bush was offering his son informal counsel.
In both the decision this week to offer talks with North Korea and in the handling of the spy plane that was forced down in China, moderate policy options prevailed.
Ari Fleischer, President Bush's spokesman, said that the Gregg memo was sent to the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, who passed "the thoughts in the note" to the president. He described this as one of many useful pieces of information passed to Mr. Bush from former foreign policy advisers like former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former Defense Secretary William J. Perry, who advised President Bill Clinton on Korea.
"The administration highly respects former Ambassador Gregg," Mr. Fleischer said.
He also said that he did not know whether President Bush had spoken to his father about Korea, but said that the president had a policy of keeping all conversations with his father private.
Mr. Gregg is president of the Korea Society, in New York, a position from which he closely follows relations between North and South Korea. He also attended an April seminar on North Korea in which former President Bush was the host at his presidential library at College Station, Tex. It was there that the senior Mr. Bush signaled that he favored re- opening talks with North Korea.
The memo by Mr. Gregg argued, according to those who have seen it, that Washington should re-engage with North Korea because not to do so would seriously undermine the current government in South Korea and hurt United States security interests in North Asia.
Mr. Gregg sent his advice to his former boss just as a contentious policy review on North Korea was under way within the Bush administration. The debate pitted hawkish officials at the Pentagon and the National Security Council, who are skeptical of serious talks with North Korea, against more moderate officials at the State Department and the National Security Council.
Mr. Gregg, a vocal supporter of Kim Dae Jung, the president of South Korea, and his engagement policies toward the North, is known to have been distressed at what was perceived as a rebuff of Mr. Kim when he visited the White House in March.
On that occasion, President Bush said the United States would not resume talks, which had gathered momentum at the end of the Clinton administration, any time soon. He also cast doubt on North Korea's trustworthiness in keeping agreements, a comment that in turn appeared to reflect badly on Mr. Kim's judgment. After his visit to Washington, Mr. Kim returned home to a chorus of criticism.
The announcement by President Bush last week that he would seek talks with North Korea was well received by the South Korean government. In Washington, experts offered mixed interpretations, including a view that the Pentagon and some members of the National Security Council might set such strict terms for the talks that the North Koreans might not respond favorably.
At the seminar at his library, former President Bush made remarks indicating that he believed that his son "would do the right thing," a participant said.
Former President Bush essentially told those at the gathering that the policy review on Korea under way at the White House was not unlike the review he conducted on the Soviet Union when he first came to office, according to several accounts. In 1989, the senior Mr. Bush recalled, his policy review on the Soviet Union led to a decision to hold talks with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and soon afterward the Soviet Union crumbled.
He suggested that a similar pattern could unfold between the two Koreas during his son's presidency, one of the participants said.
In a more public display of his support for reconciliation between the two Koreas, former President Bush has taped remarks for distribution at a meeting in South Korea next week, according to Korean officials.
The gathering on Cheju Island will mark the first anniversary of Kim Dae Jung's visit to North Korea, and is timed to encourage North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, to reciprocate with a trip to Seoul. The former president's taped remarks are bound to be taken seriously because of his standing in Asia ? not only as a former president, but also as a former ambassador to the United Nations and as the former leader of the United States liaison office in China.
The South Korean foreign minister, Han Seung Soo, who is in Washington for talks with senior Bush officials, said former President Bush was "genuinely respected by Koreans."
Mr. Han said he was encouraged by the announcement to seek talks with North Korea. "The Bush administration has offered a comprehensive approach," Mr. Han said. "We hope that North Korea will take it at face value and respond in a positive manner."
Of North Korea, Mr. Han said: "The ball is on their side."
He said he was also encouraged by the interest China was taking in promoting stability on the Korean peninsula.
But the danger of deterioration in relations between the United States and China that would adversely affect all of Asia was of some concern, he said.
In a report to be issued on Monday, a task force of Korea experts created by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York will urge the United States to "stand by its commitments" under the 1994 agreement with North Korea, which requires the United States to help provide fuel oil to North Korea to help alleviate its severe energy shortage. But the report notes that in the next two years North Korea will have to comply with a series of nonproliferation steps included in the agreement, and the report suggests that Mr. Bush make it clear "we will not accept any delay" in reaching those goals. >>
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