On North Korea, Washington Should Listen to South
South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak arrives in Washington this week to advocate a tough stance on North Korea.
In a few short sentences, the American diplomat signaled to Pyongyang that Washington’s pre-launch warning was meaningless, that we didn’t think the missile test had any significance, and that we would give the North Koreans what they wanted — direct instead of six-party talks — in response to their provocative act. It was, in short, a green light to the Kim regime to continue pursuing its most destructive and worst ambitions.
Since then, Washington has done virtually nothing to dispel the notion that it has no Korea policy. The Obama administration has been trying to downplay events because it doesn’t know what to do. It stalled for time when delay favored Pyongyang.
The unintended consequence of this dynamic is that it looks as if we cannot stop North Korea.
In the absence of a strategy to defang the regime, the Obama administration has fallen back on the United Nations Security Council. On Friday, the body toughened sanctions on North Korea, but the new measures will have significance only if China implements them — Beijing has previously refused to enforce the weaker 2006 sanctions.
We would all like to think the North Koreans can be pressured with half-measures into giving up their nuclear weapons and joining the international community, but events this decade — and this year — tell us otherwise. And that is why it is so important that President Lee arrives here this week. As the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Kissel notes, Lee is the first national leader to acknowledge the failure of the Beijing-sponsored talks to disarm Pyongyang. “The North Koreans have gained, or bought, a lot of time through the six-party-talks framework to pursue their own agenda,” Lee said in an interview with her. “I think it’s important now, at this critical point in time, for us not to repeat any past mistakes.”
The United States is not only set to repeat past mistakes, it appears absolutely devoted to them. President Obama shows no indication he will drop his efforts to engage North Korea, even though Chairman Kim has turned down each of his overtures to talk. Lee’s insight is that we need to try new approaches.
One of those approaches is that Washington should put its friends in the region — Lee’s South Korea and Japan — at the center of its efforts to stop North Korea instead of Pyongyang’s best friend, China. If Obama can forge a strong coalition with our partners — an approach that Washington has not tried since last decade — then at least we have the possibility of isolating China. The Chinese do not want to be held responsible for the pariah regime in Pyongyang, and they can be maneuvered into the position where they have no choice but to act responsibly.
Yet before that can happen, the Obama administration needs to acknowledge the failure of Bosworth’s diplomacy and decide to try something new. And all new strategies should involve the soon-to-arrive Lee Myung-bak.
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Gordon G. Chang is the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World and The Coming Collapse of China.
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24 Comments
1. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: I Find….
….it truly ironic and poetic justice that Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, has to deal with the crisis of a nuclear North Korea that SHE and her husband helped create in the 1990s.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jun 16, 2009 - 5:28 am 2. Phineas:[Karma! It's everywhere you don't want it to be.....]
I hate to say it, Gordon, but “tough stance” and “Obama administration” seem to be mutually exclusive — except when dealing with US bondholders. (Who, as we know are a much bigger threat than delusional dictators with nuclear weapons.)
Argh.
Jun 16, 2009 - 5:32 am 3. El Coqui:Only delutional if you are out of the range of a potential NK missile.
But frankly, I don’t think that the O-man cares too much about Alaska, anyway.
Jun 16, 2009 - 7:30 am 4. sjc-tx:Hey chuck… Hillary isn;t the president… Your bozobama is. The buck stops with HIM. And sadly he is CLUELESS. And the irony is that all you fools that voted for him are in just as much danger as the rest of us.
Jun 16, 2009 - 7:51 am 5. arhooley:Has anyone tried to track or profile or otherwise quantify South Korean public opinion on American policy? I recall the South Koreans vociferously demonstrating against George W. Bush and saying America is more dangerous than North Korea. What motivates them? What will they do if Obama gives them the brush-off?
Jun 16, 2009 - 8:30 am 6. Chuck Pelto:TO: sjx-tx
RE: And….
….where did I say she was ‘president’? Or do you suffer from poor reading skills? Or not enough coffee yet?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jun 16, 2009 - 11:09 am 7. Blackwell:[For additional information, please re-read this comment.]
The author suggests there is some benefit to involving South Korea in a “coalition”. There isn’t. Puffing up a “coalition” of the unwilling and unable means nothing unless someone is willing to do more than talk. Its simply more fluff that distracts us from realities.
The South Koreans’ most recent contribution to the US that protected them for 40 years was demonstrating against the US presence there. Then they elected a President who sought to make nice with NorKo. A “new way” and so on. Rumsfeld obliged and pulled 6,000 troops. We should have pulled them all from this latter-day Vichy state. So the kids there think George Bush is more of a risk than NorKo? Have a nice life!
Sticking out our neck for the SoKo’s makes little sense. They’re not the Brits; I don’t want to bail out ingrates: nor I see any strategic advantage to SoKo. I’m tired of defending people who are only interested in penetrating US markets and how much US cash they can take home. The SoKo’s ought to make fewer KIA’s, hold fewer demonstrations behind our soldiers and plan on defending themselves. But don’t look to the US for troops in this one.
Japan at least has an ocean barrier from China and NoKo. Its a sustainable base with motivated people and a decent military. If they are willing to do somehing material, terrific. Bt they are the only people that need be involved in any discussions.
Absent US willingness to take decisive unilateral action meaning; (a) a costly blockade risking a confrontation with the Chinese or Russia; or (b) air strikes on the reactors, there is only talk left. That’s what Bush did since 2000; its what Obama will probably do. Pretending that “involving” South Korea will change this is silly.
Jun 16, 2009 - 11:30 am 8. Meryl:“a tough stance on North Korea”……(from the sub heading)
How can that phrase be used seriously if it is a fact that our POTUS can’t even bring himself to say the word “freedom” in a positive context?
“A tough stance” in his world is being able to kill flies that buzz in his face.
Since Mr. Cheney has been accused by POTUS’ CIA head of wanting a terrorist attack on America, I feel free to suggest that POTUS would like nothing more than to have the Norks send a missile toward Alaska.
It’s a win-win for him. Then he can say, “See, I told you that George Bush was bad for America”.
Then he will lecture the South Koreans about being better neighbors.
Jun 16, 2009 - 10:07 pm 9. Ole Sarge:The only time I have seen talking about something solve anything of consequence was when their A-S was kicked so hard and so repeatedly that it was going to take them a few generations to get it repositioned. Then you stand their with the kicka-s machine pointed at them as they sign the paper and then leave the kicka-s machine in place after you go home. Any other approach has a long history of failing
Jun 17, 2009 - 12:51 am 10. Steve:You got it Ole Sarge we need to go ahead and stomp their rears while we can and put a quick and immediate halt to this krap. They have limited resources and starving people, take out the nuclear facilities and missile facilities, and it would be a good place to try out the MOAB (Mother of all bombs), then we can say oh well we were just conducting a test and it blew them all away, seems to have worked real good, sorry about the damage.
Jun 17, 2009 - 3:37 pm 11. Gordon Chang:Chuck Pelto, yes, President Clinton, had he listened to South Korean President Kim Young Sam, could have ended Kim Jong Il’s regime when it was particularly vulnerable in 1994. Instead, Clinton chose to sign up the Agreed Framework and extend the life of that abhorent government. Now, Clinton’s wife has to deal with a strengthened North Korea.
Jun 17, 2009 - 6:46 pm 12. Gordon Chang:Phineas, I am afraid you are right. But the administration may find itself in a conflict nonetheless because it refused to take a resolute stance at this moment.
Unfortunately, Kim now has the initiative, and he has not ruled out violence to achieve his ends. In fact, both he and his dad have resorted to violence to upset status quos they found to be unacceptable.
Jun 17, 2009 - 6:49 pm 13. Gordon Chang:El Coqui, in about a decade no American will be out of the range of Kim’s missiles.
Jun 17, 2009 - 6:51 pm 14. Gordon Chang:arhooley, what motivates them? Korean nationalism is the primary factor. Also relevant are some distorted and unbalanced views of the Korean War and the Cold War period. The issue is complex, due to the divisions in Korean society and some historical factors going back to the 19th century.
Jun 17, 2009 - 6:58 pm 15. Gordon Chang:Blackwell, I understand what you are saying, but do you think the United States would have any allies left in Asia if we just pulled out of South Korea? The answer is probably no. Remember the problems we faced after Vietnam? This time, the fallout would be worse, because China would fill the vacuum.
Jun 17, 2009 - 7:01 pm 16. Gordon Chang:Meryl, our president will learn about the necessity of employing sensible policies because the Norks will not leave him alone. This will, however, be a costly lesson.
Jun 17, 2009 - 7:03 pm 17. Gordon Chang:Ole Sarge, yes. Thanks for stating this.
Jun 17, 2009 - 7:04 pm 18. Gordon Chang:Steve, because our diplomacy has been so bad for so long, we have lots of room to improve it before we have to resort to force. We can, if we want, destroy the North Korean regime without firing a shot. Bush nearly did so with his financial sanctions before he inexplicably removed them.
Jun 17, 2009 - 7:07 pm 19. Blackwell:15: Sir:
The “choice” between binding the US to help a fairweather friend or losing all our other allies there is a false one.
SoKo is not a US ally as the Brits or Austrailians are: they love us for our markets, detest our army and thought George Bush was the enemy.
One thing learned from Vietnam is to think long and hard about defending people who feel imposed upon when asked to defend themselves– and to measure the worth of a country before comitting 50,000 US lives, thousands more wounded and paralyzed and billions of dollars to its defense.
If the SoKo’s won’t man up for their own defense and think NoKo is just misunderstood, we are delusional in defending it. For what? (I have the same dim view of defending the rather selfish people in Taiwan as you know.) I see no advantage for us in SoKo: Japan is a different matter. Surely the Japanesen would appreciate it if we do not fritter away dollars and lives in a place that does not matter.
Chia is going to fill the vacuum anyway: we ought to decide now where we draw the line in our own interest, not reflexively rush to bleed lives and dollars for places like SoKo. We ought to maintain our strength for places that matter to us.
Jun 18, 2009 - 11:11 am 20. lee:I disagree with Blackwell that South Korea is not a valuable US ally, but there’s no denying that they rarely act like it. South Koreans hate two countries with fanatical passion – Japan and the United States. The never ending controversy regarding Dokdo and the 2002 armor vehicle accident, or even the recent “mad cow disease from us beef” hysteria provide a glimpse of their disturbing brand of nationalism. With a dangerous “sibling” developing nuclear ambitions right above them, you’d think S.Korea have an incentive to seek closer relationship with two of their (de facto) closest allies, but their public often regard them as mortal enemies.
But I’m not particularly confident that South Korea can capably defend themselves, even if they “manned” up. They couldn’t do it 50 years ago, and they probably can’t do it now. In fact, the Lee Myung Bak admin shouldn’t even think about going “solo”. That’d be a disaster. I have friends and siblings living in Korea. They still need our help, though ingrates they are occasionally.
I like president Lee, especially after the disappointing Roh Moo Hyun (rest in peace). I really hope he does urge Obama to take a tougher stance with North Korea.
Did Kim young Sam urge Clinton to take out Kim’s regime? I don’t think I’ve heard of this. I know Kim Dae Jung, his succesor, helped bring about the dubious “sunshine” policy with North Korea.
South Korea – a country still wating for their first great president.
Jun 19, 2009 - 2:21 am 21. Gordon Chang:Blackwell, in reality, South Korea has two electorates of about equal size. The “progressives” are the ones you write about. The other is fanatically pro-American. And, fortunately, public opinion is going our way.
Another point: There is no holding Japan in an alliance if we walk out of South Korea. Japan becomes essentially indefensible once we lose South Korea and Taiwan. Look at a map.
Jun 19, 2009 - 3:37 pm 22. Gordon Chang:lee, Kim Young Sam did not urge taking out North Korea. He urged the United States to not support it at a critical moment. And, in retrospect, we would not be worrying about Kim Jong Il now if Clinton had followed his advice then.
Jun 19, 2009 - 3:41 pm 23. kenny komodo:Having spent several years serving with the U.S. Navy in The Republic of Korea, as well as being married to a Korean woman, I can find no validity in any statement about Korean people disliking America. Yes of course there are students demonstrators, just as there are here in America, and if they happen to be loud and carry some anti America signs well that is just a small but vocal minority. I’ve met many Korean people and every one of them was grateful for our presence in Korean to strike down the attempt by the Communists to take their country. The Korean military is competent, ready, disciplined and fully capable of taking on the N. Koreans should that time every happen. The Korean government supported our efforts in S.E. Asia, sending troops to Vietnam that were so successful and feared that the N. Vietnamese would not engage them unless it was unavoidable. I am probably in a very small minority of Americans but I feel that the only way to really stop the idiocy that is coming from N. Koran is to force an invasion, to cross the DMZ in strength and remove that little tin pot dictator that is holding the people of N. Korea in slavery, in fear of death and in misery.
Jun 20, 2009 - 10:26 pm 24. Gordon Chang:kenny komodo, thanks for your comments.
I agree South Korea’s military is ready to fight. We should be proud that Seoul is our ally. This is a successful alliance.
And as for your last comment, we should be better prepared to stop the North Korean military from moving south. With generals gaining even more power in Pyongyang, the risk of conflict on the Korean peninsula has risen dramatically in recent months.
Jun 21, 2009 - 4:56 pm