The leading North Korea headline this Labor Day weekend is on how North Korea will end its nuclear program by the end of 2007 and declare its nuclear facilities. Some representative examples:

North Korea agreed Sunday to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of the year, the chief U.S. negotiator said… [AP]

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill said on Sunday that North Korea “will provide a full declaration of all their nuclear programmes and will disable their nuclear programmes by the end of this year, 2007.” [Reuters]

North Korea has agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of this year, the US negotiator at talks with Pyongyang in Geneva said. [BBC News]

None of these reports even mention the 13 February agreement (DOC), where this has already been agreed to, much less the fact that a full declaration of all nuclear programs should have occurred no later than 14 April 2007 - four and a half months ago.

And then there’s this:

“One thing that we agreed on is that the DPRK will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007,” Hill told reporters. . .

[. . .]

Kim Gye Gwan, the head of the North Korean delegation, told reporters separately, “We made it clear, we showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities.” He mentioned no dates. (emphasis added)

First, does “nuclear facilities” include, in the North Korean definition, nuclear weapons? That’s not clear and would be a classic North Korean maneuver. Second, how will the declaration be verified? Third, will it include the highly enriched uranium program? Further talks in September are supposed to nail down the details and it should not be a surprise if there is a breakdown over definitions at that time.

I have defended the 13 February agreement in the past when it was roundly criticized for not spelling out a deal at that time. Clearly the agreement was only a starting point and not meant to address the issues now being discussed by Hill and his North Korean counterparts. But the Bush administration has let timelines lapse with no penalty, essentially giving the North Koreans the upper-hand; the North Koreans know they can do it again and again with no consequences.

We will see if the administration shows any backbone in January 2008 arrives and North Korea has not made a full declaration.