By Tong Kim
In Beijing last Thursday, President Xi Jinping of China and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea agreed on four important principles: not to tolerate war on the Korean Peninsula, to support a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, to achieve denuclearization through dialogue and negotiations, and to improve inter-Korean relations towards the end of denuclearization.
Opposition to war and the desire for denuclearization of North Korea are the universal goals shared by all peace-loving people. The Sino-South Korean opposition to war should not be construed as a constraint on the efficacy of U.S. policy options that include military action to curb the North Korean nuclear and missile programs.
On Dec. 12 in Washington, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined a comprehensive, revealing description of U.S. policy on North Korea, in which he said ― without approval of President Trump ― that Washington is ready to talk to Pyongyang without the preconditions it had long attached to any dialogue. He said: "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and we're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let's just meet and let's ― we can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about…And then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap of what we might be willing to work towards. I don't think ― it's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program."
Only a couple of weeks earlier, Tillerson survived a widely reported plan that Trump was going to replace him with a more hawkish figure, CIA Director Mike Pompeo. In September, Trump tweeted Tillerson was "wasting time in trying to negotiate with North Korea." This time, Trump did not directly discredit his top diplomat.
But National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who on Dec. 3 said "the potential of war with North Korea is increasing every day," made the following comment a day after Tillerson offered an open door to dialogue with the North:
"I know … talks are not an end in and of themselves, and when he (Tillerson) said there will be no preconditions, what that means is, we're not going to relieve any pressure on North Korea or give in to any demands they might make for payoffs. … Denuclearization is the only viable objective and if we all focus on that, we have a strong chance for success."
Shortly after Tillerson's remarks, a White House spokesperson said, "President Trump's policy has not changed. We are open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. But North Korea must first refrain from any further provocations and take sincere and meaningful actions toward denuclearization."
Tillerson was right when he said if he fails in diplomacy, Secretary of Defense James Mattis would take over. He also warned the North that the military would not fail on North Korea. He was talking along the same classic theory that General Douglas MacArthur expressed at a congressional hearing in 1951: If diplomacy fails, the military comes in.
The problem is that Tillerson does not seem to have the full confidence and support of President Trump.
Undercutting of the top diplomat or divergent voices by the president or by his White House staff is not helpful to carry out a successful foreign policy. Trump should support Tillerson's diplomacy until "the first bomb drops."
In Pyongyang last week, Kim Jong-un celebrated the North's most recent ICBM test-launch, ordering his rocket scientists to work harder to increase their nuclear arsenal. In the meantime. the regime's legislature chief Kim Yong-nam and their ambassador to the United Nations signaled that the DPRK would be interested in talks if it is recognized as a nuclear weapons state, a proposition unacceptable to the U.S. and its allies.
If the North's nuclear weapons were defensive, a deterrent against a nuclear strike by the U.S., the regime in Pyongyang would not have to push further advancement of the North's nuclear arsenal. Their deterrent should be enough. Kim Jong-un proclaimed that the DPRK realized the historic cause of a nuclear force with the successful launch of their most advanced ICBM on Nov. 29.
Maybe this is the right time to begin dialogue with North Korea. What's your take?
Tong Kim (tong.kim8@yahoo.com) is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies.
In Beijing last Thursday, President Xi Jinping of China and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea agreed on four important principles: not to tolerate war on the Korean Peninsula, to support a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, to achieve denuclearization through dialogue and negotiations, and to improve inter-Korean relations towards the end of denuclearization.
Opposition to war and the desire for denuclearization of North Korea are the universal goals shared by all peace-loving people. The Sino-South Korean opposition to war should not be construed as a constraint on the efficacy of U.S. policy options that include military action to curb the North Korean nuclear and missile programs.
On Dec. 12 in Washington, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined a comprehensive, revealing description of U.S. policy on North Korea, in which he said ― without approval of President Trump ― that Washington is ready to talk to Pyongyang without the preconditions it had long attached to any dialogue. He said: "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and we're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let's just meet and let's ― we can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about…And then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap of what we might be willing to work towards. I don't think ― it's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program."
Only a couple of weeks earlier, Tillerson survived a widely reported plan that Trump was going to replace him with a more hawkish figure, CIA Director Mike Pompeo. In September, Trump tweeted Tillerson was "wasting time in trying to negotiate with North Korea." This time, Trump did not directly discredit his top diplomat.
But National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who on Dec. 3 said "the potential of war with North Korea is increasing every day," made the following comment a day after Tillerson offered an open door to dialogue with the North:
"I know … talks are not an end in and of themselves, and when he (Tillerson) said there will be no preconditions, what that means is, we're not going to relieve any pressure on North Korea or give in to any demands they might make for payoffs. … Denuclearization is the only viable objective and if we all focus on that, we have a strong chance for success."
Shortly after Tillerson's remarks, a White House spokesperson said, "President Trump's policy has not changed. We are open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. But North Korea must first refrain from any further provocations and take sincere and meaningful actions toward denuclearization."
Tillerson was right when he said if he fails in diplomacy, Secretary of Defense James Mattis would take over. He also warned the North that the military would not fail on North Korea. He was talking along the same classic theory that General Douglas MacArthur expressed at a congressional hearing in 1951: If diplomacy fails, the military comes in.
The problem is that Tillerson does not seem to have the full confidence and support of President Trump.
Undercutting of the top diplomat or divergent voices by the president or by his White House staff is not helpful to carry out a successful foreign policy. Trump should support Tillerson's diplomacy until "the first bomb drops."
In Pyongyang last week, Kim Jong-un celebrated the North's most recent ICBM test-launch, ordering his rocket scientists to work harder to increase their nuclear arsenal. In the meantime. the regime's legislature chief Kim Yong-nam and their ambassador to the United Nations signaled that the DPRK would be interested in talks if it is recognized as a nuclear weapons state, a proposition unacceptable to the U.S. and its allies.
If the North's nuclear weapons were defensive, a deterrent against a nuclear strike by the U.S., the regime in Pyongyang would not have to push further advancement of the North's nuclear arsenal. Their deterrent should be enough. Kim Jong-un proclaimed that the DPRK realized the historic cause of a nuclear force with the successful launch of their most advanced ICBM on Nov. 29.
Maybe this is the right time to begin dialogue with North Korea. What's your take?
Tong Kim (tong.kim8@yahoo.com) is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies.
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