A Cooling Tower Crumbles

That doesn't mean North Korea has decided to give up nuclear weapons.

THE 60-FOOT-HIGH cooling tower at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor came tumbling down in a cloud of dust yesterday, producing a television picture that U.S. officials have been seeking for more than two years. The dramatic image was meant to convey the tangible results of a protracted and torturous diplomatic campaign to eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program and signal its irreversibility. In that sense there is less than met the eye. Yongbyon's shutdown is indisputably a positive development, and one that a U.S.-led coalition achieved at relatively modest cost. No longer will the facility add to a North Korean plutonium stockpile that already contained the raw material for at least eight bombs -- though the plant has not yet been dismantled beyond repair. Still, the goal of disarming North Korea, far from becoming inevitable, remains distant -- and the regime's repeated evasions, lies and failures to fulfill its promises strongly suggest that it has no intention of giving up its arms.

By the terms of the agreements it signed, North Korea should have supplied a full declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of last year. Instead, the disclosure it handed over Thursday, six months late, does not acknowledge the uranium enrichment work it is known to have done -- the latest evidence for which turned up, in the form of radioactive traces, on some of the documents it handed over. It does not explain its export of a nuclear reactor to Syria, a clandestine crime that continued after President Bush declared proliferation activity by the North to be a "red line." It does not say how many bombs have been fabricated from the available plutonium, though the Bush administration originally demanded that that be part of the disclosure.

In exchange for its partial compliance, Kim Jong Il's regime will get everything promised it by the international coalition, including the equivalent of 1 million tons of fuel oil and removal from the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors. Though U.S. officials said the effect is largely symbolic, it is, at least, galling to public opinion in Japan, which is still seeking answers from Pyongyang about citizens who were kidnapped and forced to live in North Korea.

With only months left in office, Bush administration officials now intend to press ahead with a new phase of negotiations that would seek to establish a plan for North Korea to turn over its weapons and plutonium in exchange for far larger U.S. concessions. The talks will go forward despite the still-

outstanding questions about the uranium program and proliferation to Syria. U.S. officials say they will seek answers as part of the verification of the recent declaration. But it's safe to predict that North Korea's refusal to cooperate will continue, since there has been no consequence for it so far. Rather than lunge for a last-minute deal, the Bush administration should focus on laying a foundation for the next administration. That means establishing a principle: North Korea will receive no further concessions until it discloses its nuclear activities -- including uranium enrichment, proliferation and bomb fabrication -- and those disclosures are verified.