October 25, 2000

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: GARY SCHMITT

SUBJECT: North Korea

At a luncheon Tuesday in Pyongyang, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright concluded a toast to her North Korean hosts by stating that “We want to see the Cold War divisions end,” with all the “countries in the region” secure from war, participating in the international system and observing global norms. All noble goals. Yet it is worth remembering one essential point: None of these goals has been achieved by appeasing communist tyrannies. The administration’s effort to buy short-term relief from the problems presented by North Korea’s weapons programs through subsidizing the current regime, combined with the spectacle of the secretary’s obsequious behavior in North Korea, can’t help but delay the movement toward the only lasting solution -- a change in government. “Cold War divisions” end when the communist governments that gave rise to them collapse.