An influential U.S. foreign policy organization will propose to the new U.S. president that two prominent former U.S. officials be sent to North Korea as special envoys to end the protracted North Korean nuclear stalemate, RFA reported Saturday.
The National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP), a leading non-profit foreign diplomacy brainstorming organ, plans to propose the dispatch of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Defense Secretary William Perry to Pyongyang within a few months after a new U.S. president assumes office to move the stalled negotiation to a fast-track conclusion.
The proposal, which is expected to be announced on Nov. 7 in New York, will contain a concrete “roadmap” stating that if Pyongyang complies with a “complete and verifiable” denuclearization, Washington, in turn, will offer a security guarantee as well as other economic and political benefits
The Kissinger-Perry plan is seen by the Washington diplomatic community as a very viable option to resolve the prolonged nuclear standoff since the two former officials command wide bipartisan respect in Capitol Hill and have a deep knowledge of North Korea’s nuclear crisis.
Perry, for example, visited North Korea as a special envoy by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1999. His subsequent “Perry Report” was used as a primer by the Clinton administration in its approach to North Korea.
Kissinger, the eminent former state secretary, has been reportedly paying a good deal of personal interest in the matter since NCAFP held a forum on North Korea in September 2003 and its subsequent meetings.
NCAFP believes that if the next U.S. administration doesn’t deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear issue with “urgency,” the hardliners in both North Korea and the U.S. are likely to step in to undermine the achievements so far, noting that the way the U.S. administration approaches North Korea in the next one year or two will be critical, RFA said.
The proposal will be officially announced at the end of a close-door discussion by NCAFP next week that will be attended by North Korean officials, including Li Gun, chief of American Division of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry; William Perry; Henry Kissinger; Donald Gregg, former ambassador to South Korea; and the current chief American nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill.
Two foreign policy advisors from the Obama camp, which is widely expected to win the presidential race next week, will attend the meeting, RFA said.