Wampum

"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other critics of the Bush administration policies that the framework agreement of the Clinton administration was a failure," McCain said in a statement, referring to a 1994 deal under which North Korea agreed to halt work on a plutonium-based nuclear facility, partly in exchange for free fuel oil deliveries.

"The Koreans received millions of dollars in energy assistance ... and what did the Koreans do? They secretly enriched uranium," McCain said.

"We had a carrots-and-no-sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior. When one carrot didn't work, we offered another."

The agreement had three main points:

1. Both sides would work together to replace North Korea's graphite-moderated reactors with light-water power plants (and the United States would help "replace" the energy from closing the old-style reactors by shipping heavy fuel oil to the North). North Korea did shut down the reactors, but balked from time to time at placing the spent fuel (the potential source of plutonium) in proper storage. Meanwhile, the United States and its allies delayed building the new reactors, breaking ground only in 1999--five years after the agreement was signed. Today, only some of the foundation has been laid.

2. The two sides would move toward normalization of relations. For nine years, the United States has failed to recognize North Korea diplomatically, although the Clinton administration was approaching that step when it left office in January 2001. Instead of continuing the diplomatic effort, the new president, George W. Bush, rejected South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's efforts to improve relations with the North, ended the U.S. diplomatic initiative, and eventually declared the North part of an "axis of evil."

3. Both sides would work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. The North pledged to remain a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to abide by an additional agreement with South Korea. The agreement with the South prohibits both countries from possessing uranium enrichment facilities. Last October, the North seemed to confirm that it was in breach of the agreement when it responded to U.S. allegations that it had a clandestine enrichment program by arguing that it had a right to develop nuclear weapons. On January 10, 2003, Pyongyang announced its withdrawal from the NPT.

source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2003 pp. 38-39 (vol. 59, no. 02)