October 13, 2022
Jeffrey Lewis
The following is an excerpt from the New York Times.
The 30-year U.S. effort to compel North Korea to give up its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities has rested on offering Pyongyang a simple choice: a relationship with the United States, or weapons and isolation.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has made his choice. His government passed a law in September declaring the country a nuclear weapons state. Mr. Kim called that designation “irreversible” and ruled out further talks on denuclearization. The North has fired a dozen ballistic missiles in the past two months, is boasting of the ability to deploy tactical battlefield nuclear weapons and is expected to conduct another nuclear test — its seventh — perhaps as early as next week.
It’s time for the United States to face reality. Efforts to encourage Mr. Kim to abandon his weapons have not only failed, but he is as clear as ever about using them to protect his country.
Washington needs to contemplate the unthinkable: accepting that North Korea is a nuclear state.
Successive U.S. administrations have steadfastly refused to do that. It would be a setback for global nonproliferation and send the message that you can defy the international community — the United Nations has passed a series of resolutions condemning North Korea and imposing sanctions over the years — and get away with it.
But it also, ironically, may be the best way to reduce the persistent and growing threat of an inadvertent conflict on the Korean Peninsula by removing a major obstacle that prevents North Korea and the United States from meeting to work out their differences.
The risk of war has spiked over the past year as the two Koreas engaged in a rhetorical and actual arms race. North Korea’s decision to call itself a nuclear state appears to show Mr. Kim is worried about a pre-emptive strike aimed at killing him and decapitating his regime, and with good reason — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration has placed new emphasis on a strategy of deterring a North Korean nuclear attack by preparing for pre-emptive strikes that could include targeting Pyongyang’s senior leadership.
The 30-year U.S. effort to compel North Korea to give up its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities has rested on offering Pyongyang a simple choice: a relationship with the United States, or weapons and isolation.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has made his choice. His government passed a law in September declaring the country a nuclear weapons state. Mr. Kim called that designation “irreversible” and ruled out further talks on denuclearization. The North has fired a dozen ballistic missiles in the past two months, is boasting of the ability to deploy tactical battlefield nuclear weapons and is expected to conduct another nuclear test — its seventh — perhaps as early as next week.
It’s time for the United States to face reality. Efforts to encourage Mr. Kim to abandon his weapons have not only failed, but he is as clear as ever about using them to protect his country.
Washington needs to contemplate the unthinkable: accepting that North Korea is a nuclear state.
Continue reading at the New York Times.
