Republican Senator John McCain, widely seen as the leading contender for his party's 2008 presidential nomination, placed responsibility for North Korea's nuclear program on the foreign policy approach of the Clinton administration, arguing that a strategy of incentives without consequences allowed Pyongyang to secretly pursue uranium enrichment while accepting energy aid.
McCain pushed back against Democratic criticism, including from Senator Hillary Clinton, that the Bush administration's refusal to hold direct bilateral talks had driven North Korea toward nuclear development. He also faulted Democrats for opposing efforts to build more capable missile defense systems, and called for a firmer US posture toward Pyongyang.
Separately, Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, wrote to President Bush urging him to convene a bipartisan congressional meeting on the North Korea threat. Hoekstra warned that partisan maneuvering ahead of elections risked undermining a unified American response to nuclear proliferation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to assign blame, saying only that the 1994 nuclear safeguard agreement had ultimately failed because North Korea violated its terms. She argued that Pyongyang had pursued nuclear weapons consistently for decades, and said the international community was now speaking with a unified voice following North Korea's announced nuclear test.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.