July 2, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – The Institute on Religion and Public Policy is deeply disappointed by the Bush administration's decision to lift sanctions on North Korea and remove the nation from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The decision came after North Korea handed over to China a 60-page declaration on its weapons-grade plutonium stockpile.

"While welcome, the declaration does not meet the ‘correct and complete' standard for disarmament the Bush administration has demanded," said Institute President Joseph K. Grieboski. "Even so, the administration took the initiative to offer rewards to North Korea by removing sanctions. The declaration includes no information regarding the regime's proliferation efforts, the number of useable weapons, or other significantly important elements that would have truly been complete as needed for the removal of sanctions.

"Furthermore, the centrally important issue is the regime's treatment of its own citizens, which has been ignored by the entire six-party process. Doing so sends a dangerous and sad message to both the North Korean regime and other nuclear-seeking states – such as Iran – that in exchange for partially following through with promises, the United States will lower sanctions and ignore the brutal repression of the citizens of that state."

About Institute on Religion and Public Policy

Nominated for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Peace, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy is an international, inter-religious non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring freedom of religion as the foundation for security, stability, and democracy.

The Institute works globally with government policymakers, religious leaders, business executives, academics, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and others in order to develop, protect, and promote fundamental rights – especially the right of religious freedom – and contributes to the intellectual and moral foundation of the fundamental right of religious freedom. The Institute encourages and assists in the effective and cooperative advancement of religious freedom.

Institute on Religion and Public Policy