WASHINGTON — American diplomatic efforts on North Korea are coming under fire within the Obama administration from officials who consider talks futile and instead want to focus on halting the regime's trade in nuclear weapons and missile equipment, U.S. officials said.
The administration's official goal has been to coax the Pyongyang government back into the six-nation disarmament talks that began in 2003.
Yet privately, many senior officials say they have all but lost hope that North Korea will cooperate, and some are arguing that it is time for a new approach.
"We don't have six-party talks," said a senior U.S. official who described internal discussions on condition of anonymity. "We may have no choice but to move to containment."
The change of heart has come in the last three months, as North Korea quit the talks, restarted a nuclear reactor that had been shuttered and conducted bomb and missile tests that have provoked an international outcry.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first expressed pessimism in April, when she told a Senate committee that North Korea's return to the talks was "implausible, if not impossible." The talks involve the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
Abandoning the six-party strategy would mean giving up on a diplomatic tool that has helped coordinate action among North Korea's closest neighbors.
It would also mean throwing in the towel on an effort that involved years of grinding diplomacy that at times seemed to offer promise. As recently as September, in the waning days of the Bush administration, some U.S. officials believed Pyongyang would agree to give international inspectors access to North Korean facilities to verify that the nation was living up to promises to abandon its nuclear program.
"Containment" was a term adopted after World War II to describe U.S. and Allied efforts to prevent the expansion of Soviet influence.
Used against North Korea, the strategy would entail blocking shipments of banned equipment by land, air and sea.
It also would mean trying to prevent Pyongyang from importing equipment that might be used for weapons programs, including so-called dual-use equipment, which is designed for nonmilitary purposes but can be adapted for weapons.
Such an effort could succeed only with strong cooperation from North Korea's neighbors, China and Russia. Although they are increasingly unhappy with North Korea's provocative behavior, they have for years resisted U.S. attempts to crack down on Pyongyang.
