The Bush Administration has decided that it would start briefing members of Congress today on alleged connections between Syria and North Korea in creating a nuclear powered reactor. This occurs months after an Israeli air raid in Syria on Sept. 6th, 2007 revealed suspicious structures in Syria. At first, only "appropriate" members of Congress had been informed, which is often the case when dealing with sensitive matters concerning international issues. Even though other lawmakers will be briefed today, they will only be the ones serving on military and intelligence committees.
The issue is that the United States wants to negotiate with North Korean officials, yet most of the work had been done behind closed doors. As more information is known about the Syrian issue, it can become problematic as Syria was never covered in previous negotiations/talks. As the situation develops, it will be interesting to see what this can lead to in the future.
As we have seen in class throughout the semester, negotiations with the North Korean regime have always been complicated. As the Bush presidency comes to a close this year, it will be interesting to see what their last efforts in the field of foreign affairs yield. Soon, another Administration will have to start negotiating with them, which can only leave us to wonder what their strategy will be concerning North Korea.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN22325946
Also, I found this interesting documentary that was shot in 2001 by a Dutch reporter crew. It is interesting to watch if you get the chance.
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