WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Edward J. Markey, the Co-Chair of the House Bipartisan Taskforce on Nonproliferation, criticized the Bush Administration’s inaction towards North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, calling the Administration’s nonproliferation policy a disaster.  This week Pyonyang declared its intention to test a nuclear weapon for the first time.

“How can it be that President Bush, who made protecting the American people from WMD proliferation his signature issue, has almost nothing to say about North Korea’s threat to test a nuclear weapon?  The Bush Administration has spent 6 years without a coherent North Korea policy, leaving the United States leaderless in the face of Pyonyang’s brinkmanship.”

“President Bush’s misguided unilateralism and hollow bluster has left the United States and the world vulnerable as nonproliferation dominoes start falling around the globe.  North Korea has withdrawn from the NPT with no repercussions, broken the seals on their spent fuel, and reprocessed its plutonium for use in weapons.  Now Pyonyang has stated that they will test a nuclear weapon and for days all you could hear out of Washington was silence.”

“This is the kind of leadership vacuum that our enemies will most certainly fill. President Bush’s policy of paralysis towards North Korea continues to guide the United States directly into unmitigated disaster.”