Dear FRONTLINE,Kudos! Another very interesting documentary, truly an hour well spent. The State Department spokesman gave a very diplomatic interview. Senator McCain and Richard Perle made up for this. It'll be interesting to see how the other regional players deal with Bush's principled refusal of bilateral talks.
Tristan Abbey
san diego, ca
Dear FRONTLINE, I'm from South Korea and through this program I could really understand what US government thinks - their own advantage.
Americans.. you can assure you are barely in danger compared to any other country in the world. You can't imagine what it is like to be in a situation now Iraq people are suffering. You will never know what it is like not being able to decide your own future which are very likely to ruin your life and kill your family.
South Korean people are not a factor in deciding whether there should be a war. Our deaths seem much less important than the danger which is very unlikely to happen in the far future.
Sangwon Lee
pittsburgh, pa
Dear FRONTLINE, Although commendable in its quest for balance, your report misses a critical point: No U.S. policy toward North Korea is worth a microgram of plutonium without the GENUINE cooperation of North Korea's neighbors and sponsors, China and Russia. Yet, the likelihood of such cooperation is rendered extremely dim by their blatant hypocrisy in insisting that we deal BILATERALLY with North Korea while excoriating us for not having dealt MULTILATERALLY with Iraq!
paul wenger
west hartford, ct
Dear FRONTLINE, The North Korean government has broken every agreement over the last 20 years that the US has made with them over non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Detractors of President Bush blame him for this crisis. It is instead the inevitable result of two decades of appeasement, timed by Kim Jong Il to coincide with US involvement in Iraq to create most favorable conditions for a new fat payoff in a new diplomatic "framework". Behind its extortionist's mask, North Korea continues to develop its nuclear program. Apart from extortion, its only source of foreign income is from the sale of weapons. The USA cannot wait until North Korea adds nuclear bomb material to its list of military goods for sale to any rogue state or well funded terrorist group. At its earliest available opportunity, the US government needs to declare that North Korea must dismantle all nuclear facilities, hand over all materials, and forswear all further attempts to develop them, or face the destruction of its regime.
chapel hill, nc
Dear FRONTLINE, After viewing several of your programs regarding the troubling current events--including "Kim's Nuclear Gamble" and "The War Behind Closed Doors"--and reading printed sources representative of the entire political spectrum (from THE NATION to THE NATIONAL REVIEW) a clear picture of the Bush administration's foreign policy emerges: it is one of aggression and imperialism. Such a characterization may inflame the sensibilities of those on the right, who contend that the news media is liberal, but the words of Perle, Wolfowitz, Kristol, and others, themselves reveal the true ambitions of the Bush administration. These policy-makers and high-ranking statesmen wish to see the United States dominate the world, and prevent China from gaining the upperhand in such domination. I suspect that the unwillingness to negotiate with North Korea has much to do with the U.S. relationship with China, but more significantly with the current administration's ambitions in the Middle East; that is, preventing the spread of radical Islam. In spite of what Bush and his cabinet members say, the current war in Iraq is indeed about Islam, what Perle and others perceive as the growing threat of radical, militant Islam threatening the stability of an increasingly globalized market. Iraq is little more than an opportunity for the U.S. to enter the Middle East. The next wave of state department rhetoric will be a barrage of rationalizations that the U.S. must enter Iran, which is counted among the policy-makers as the real enemy in the region. One has only to look at a map to see the geopolitical ambitions at work here. Bush foreign policy is not a Zionist conspiracy (simply because Perle and Wolfowitz are Jewish). Rather, it is the collective ambitions of true believers in global capitalism and powerful men who wish to become even more powerful. I for one believe that this aggressive foreign policy and the obvious aspirations of imperialism are not just misguided but evil. History will view the current administration as one guided by naked, Machiavellian ambition, a government that sees the deaths of millions of innocent people the world over as little more than the small price great nations pay for greatness. And there will always be those who believe such slaughter does accompany greatness, like those who revere Napoleon. But to what great end did the thousands of dead French and Russians serve scattered across the snow-covered Russian countryside when Napoleon retreated? To what great end did the deaths of thousands of American GIs serve in the jungles of Vietnam? To what great end did the millions of Cambodians killed by carpet bombing serve? To paraphrase the philosopher Theodore Adorno, it is not only offensive to write poety after Auschwitz, it seems utterly pointless to write ethics today.
Stephen Hood
houston, texas
Dear FRONTLINE, . I am scared of all the liberals who keep calling for the inpeachment of the commander in cheif for doing his job. Clinton made many military actions without the UN being approached, what a double standard many of you have. Democratcy cannot survive in a country that does not have the will to defend itself but so far liberals and peace activist have only caused small wars delayed to become world wars.
Ronnie Blanchette
mechanicville, ny
Dear FRONTLINE, I voted for President Bush, but only because McCain got pushed aside by the lack of compaign money and the Republicans had no one acceptable to offer. My biggest disapointment with Bush is his lack of ability to see the color gray. All decisions to him are black or white, with no other options. North Korea is a perfect example of how Bush and his administration are hogtied by their own refusal to see other solutions to complex problems.
Michael Flecke
saint louis, mo.
Dear FRONTLINE, Tonight's Frontline was a one-sided apology for the Clinton Administration's blunders and miscalculations regarding North Korea as well as a clever attempt to label the current administration as inflexible and without a Korean policy. Simply stated the program's message was: "Oh, yes, we all know that Kim and his henchmen are evil and represent a serious threat, so our (meaning the U.S.)only option is to not upset him but instead to appease him." Tell that to Churchill and FDR RE Hitler or Reagan RE the Evil Empire. The North Korean problem is being addressed, and, fortunately for the process, the Frontline staff will be some of the last to figure out what's really happening. Hint: The PRC, S. Korea and Japan have a lot more to lose than do we. If you haven't noticed, our new (or renewed)foreign policy involves the following questions: 1) Is it in our nation interest? 2)Do we need the agreement and assistance of any other nations? and 3) if military action is required to affect permanent change, can we obtain a critical mass of support from elements within the country being attacked? This is the concept Enlightened Self Interest that our nation's founders understood so well.
John Zern
houston, texas
Dear FRONTLINE, I was dissapointed but not surprised to see the conservative spin in the program on North Korea. Interviewing someone with extreme far right viewpoints like Richard Perle, and not interviewing someone just as far to the left shows a bias that's all too common in our media today.
evansville, in
Dear FRONTLINE, I believe that President Bush has the right attitude towards North Korea. As an Army veteran once stationed in South Korea, and married to a South Korean now, I can safely say I have a very good grasp on what is going on with North Korea. North Korea is a reclusive society that denies its own people the most basic of freedoms, spends 80% of its GNP on its military while their children lie dying of starvation or lack of the most basic medical attention - all for the glory of "the party and the Juche ideal". This country is a long extinct relic of the Cold War era, who survives solely through its blackmail of South Korea, the United States, and all its other neighbors in the region. When will people realize that once you begin paying blackmail or "hush money" to appease North Korea, you'll continue to do so until someone has the moral fortitude to call their bluff. Yes, North Korea will launch some test missiles and try to bully us, that's their style - they're very predictable. Eventually, as with the former USSR, they will fall. It's up to the world not to give in. As for the young men and women who may die. Well, when I did my 2 tours there, I knew the risks and accepted that I could be called on to die for the protection of the area, and I would do so gladly even now. Study up on the facts before you criticize our president on his policies. We are doing the right thing - good vs. evil is never a lost cause.
Keith Burnette
burlington, nc
Dear FRONTLINE, To say you dont believe in war doesnt matter, if the other country does believe in war, you will die. North Korea like most other counties thinks that America is a country of scared and weak people. Drag a dead American soldier down a street and get it on CNN and they will run for home.....Thank you Mr. Clinton... Iraq is a training ground for us. Now we have troups that have fired a shot in anger and have attacked while bleeding. America has seen its men and women in the military die. We have not run from this as we shouldnt. I personally didnt like Bush and the way he became president, but now i think he is the right man for the job because he knows how to deal with punks like North Korea and Saddam.Yes, we will suffer the loss of some of our children, this is what happens when there are deranged people that run countries and read the more powerful countries as playboys, like Hitler did.
dave dimond
mpls, mn
Dear FRONTLINE, I think people in power in the US should and must realize that not everyone who pose a threat to the US strives to destroy the US. Ironically it's the opposite in that they fear destruction from the US. The US today has the ability to achieve great military goals, but N. Korea is no Iraq. Iraq as a miliarty foe may be almost a joke when compared to N. Korea. It will be easy to make mistakes when our foes are understood to be comic characters.
fairfax, va
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you for bringing insight to the US-DPRK negotiation experience over the past 10 years, which allows us to get a better idea of North Korea's motiviations since the end of the Cold War. It is very important that the US starts diplomatic relations once more in order to continue probing Pyongyang's intentions since there are no other channels available. It is because we do not have precise inormation on their objectives or capacties that the simple and familiar attitudes (hostility towards an "evil" regime) and approaches (coercion and threats) are filling the void of a non-existant North Korean policy.
Catherine Hubert
washington dc, washington dc
Dear FRONTLINE, If you put yourself into the thinking mode of North Korea, they were discussing treaties with the Clinton Administration, albiet possibly by blackmail, and then the Bush Administration arrives and shuts down all communication. From the North Korean point of view, they must feel like "one leader comes, one leader goes, what means something to one, means something different from another." They can never count on a concrete policy from the US because Administrations change hands and policies change with them. Il may feel like he needs to protect his interests and America cannot be counted on to be consistent. Whatever his motives are, and only he knows, we will never be taken serious by the North Koreans as negotiaters of real peace, until we have a concrete policy that is not driven by the prevailing political winds. Getting our leaders in Washington to do this; may be the wishful thinking of a fool.
Brandon Sanders
fort worth, texas
Dear FRONTLINE, I am concerned about the potential nuclear threat from N.Korea, however I am truly terrified of the increasing Anti-American attitude spreading and strengthing through out the world. The N.Koreans have a massive market out there who are willing and eager to buy nuclear weapons.
God help us.
kimberly Hudson
richmond, texas
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