Appeasing the Lesser of Two Evils

The appeasement of North Korea continues:

The United States on Friday announced it would spend up to $25 million to pay for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for North Korea — part of an agreement the communist regime made with the U.S. and other nations pushing it to dismantle its nuclear program.

Under a February agreement, the U.S. and other participants in the six-party negotiations with Pyongyang agreed to provide North Korea with 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil, or the monetary equivalent in other aid and assistance.

In return, North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor, which it did in July, and then declare and ultimately dismantle all its nuclear programs.  [Deb Reichmann, AP]

If you look at the original February 13th Agreement, which the North Koreans have violated over and over again, this is what it says in regard to the oil:

Under the deal, the North will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, to be confirmed by international inspectors.

For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid.

North Korea has shut down the Yongbyon reactor and let in the IAEA inspectors which meant they are owed 50,000 tons of oil according to the agreement which the South Koreans have already sent to North Korea along with extra oil from China:

South Korea provided 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil in July. Earlier this month, China said it had delivered a shipment of oil to North Korea amid a series of efforts to keep talks on disabling North Korean nuclear programs on track.

So why is the US sending them even more oil than what they owed since they have not fully implemented their side of the agreement by not coming clean on all their nuclear programs, not to mention being involved in proliferation with Syria?  The answer is actually quite simple.  The Six Party Charade is being used to keep the continuing Myth of Progress on the Korean peninsula alive.  This is just another example of US appeasement of North Korea by meeting demands not in the agreement in order to keep the appearance of diplomacy being used to resolve the nuclear issue. 

This apearance of successful diplomacy is needed in order to set conditions for the eventual confrontation with Iran over their nuclear program.  Basically the current US nuclear policy is to appease the lesser of two evils to confront the greater one. Only the future will tell if the sell out of a sound Korea policy will be worth the trade off when the confrontation with Iran occurs.