Looking For A Legacy.(World Affairs)(American-North Korean relations)

Byline: Stephen Glain

In the waning months of the Bush administration, Washington is headed to Pyongyang for a deal.

There was a time when President George W. Bush couldn't pass up an opportunity to blast North Korea. After 9/11 he labeled it a member of the "Axis of Evil," and later said he "loathed" Kim Jong Il. Yet in last month's State of the Union, he didn't even mention the renegade state. True, North Korea has modified its behavior somewhat of late, engaging South Korea in symbolic gestures of reconciliation like opening a rail link. But the real reason for Bush's shift probably lies elsewhere: time is running out on his presidency, and with quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan and the failure to deliver an Arab-Israeli peace deal, his administration is desperate for a foreign-policy triumph. Thus it is scrambling for a deal with Pyongyang that would dismantle North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for its removal from the State Departments' list of terrorist states.

To keep things on track, the United States has rewarded even the smallest baby steps by North Korea, most recently by sending the New York Philharmonic to visit. Washington even overlooked instances of backsliding, such as Kim's alleged transfer of nuclear technology to Syria. The administration hopes a breakthrough will lead to a regional accord, including a peace treaty between North and South Korea. To sweeten the pot, Washington offered Pyongyang normalized relations if it cooperates in verifiably abandoning its nukes.

Supporters of the administration say the approach has already borne fruit. Last fall, Pyongyang began the process of disabling its main reactor at Yongbyon, going far beyond the commitment it made in 1994 merely to freeze the program. Bush backers also point out that getting the world's most secretive state to admit to possessing 30 kilograms of fissile material--as it also did last fall--represents progress and is reason enough to keep talking, even though U.S. intelligence officials suspect North Korea actually has nearly twice that much.

But the administration's dovishness is causing splits in the conservative Washington firmament, leading some hawks to attack the president's policies. Hard-liners think it is a mistake to deal with North Korea till there's proof Pyongyang is nuke-free and ...