When George Bush stood in front of the citizens of both the USA and South Korea, with then-president Kim Dae Jung at his side, and proclaimed that North Korea was in violation of the 1994 Agreed Framework, he said that it was based upon evidence. Now, of course, we see that the "evidence" simply wasn't there. A case could have been made at that time that North Korea was engaged in suspicious activities and would need to make an accounting to the member nations of the Agreed Framework, but that is not what Bush did.

As I have already noted, this irresponsible declaration finished Kim Dae Jung's political career and ensured that the opposition party would win the next round of elections by running on an anti-American platform, the first time in South Korea's history that such a thing could even be considered, let alone successful. North Korea deported all inspectors, reopened its reactors and now possesses nuclear weapons.

We have had six years now of belligerence masquerading as foreign policy. Six years of deliberately deceiving the American public on matters of great import. Six years of undermining our allies and antagonizing our enemies. Iraq did not and does not have weapons of mass destrution, but North Korea does and Iran soon will if it does not already - and this is the direct consequence of George Bush's words and actions.

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