China urged to pressure North Korea for talks

This is the second in a series of interviews with international experts to seek ways toward a peaceful resolution for the North Korean nuclear crisis on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of The Korea Times, which falls on Nov. 1. ― ED.

Peaceful resolution for nuke crisis crucial for stability in Northeast Asia

By Kim Jae-kyoung

Joseph DeTrani

China should increase pressure on North Korea by using its oil leverage to bring the reclusive country back to negotiations, said Joseph DeTrani, a former special envoy for the six-party talks.

He stressed that a peaceful resolution for the nuclear crisis is crucial not only for avoiding war on the Korean Peninsula but also for ensuring peace and stability in Northeast Asia where major powers are renewing fierce competition.

"The current impasse can be addressed if initially the U.S. and North Korea sit down to candidly share their respective concerns and demands, and discuss a peaceful path for addressing these concerns and demands," DeTrani said in a recent interview.

The former U.S. mission manager for North Korea, who helped broker a 2005 agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, said that China should play a key role in setting up exploratory talks between the U.S. and North Korea like it did in 2003, which led to the six-party talks process.

The multilateral approach was successful in producing a September 19, 2005 Joint Statement that committed North Korea to complete verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its active nuclear weapons programs.

"China was instrumental in April 2003 in getting the U.S. and North Korea to discuss the tension at that time, when North Korea had quit the NPT and started to reprocess plutonium spent fuel rods for fissile material for nuclear weapons," he said.

At the request of the U.S., China then got North Korea to meet with the U.S. to discuss the situation and a possible path forward to defuse the impasse.

"If a similar exploratory meeting could be arranged, ideally by China, it's possible that the U.S. and North Korea would return to the six-party talks process or something similar," he said.

DeTrani, who is currently president of the Daniel Morgan Academy in Washington, said what is important will be North Korea's commitment not to launch missiles or conduct nuclear tests during these exploratory talks or during any follow-up talks.

"Another option would be that both the U.S. and North Korea quietly or publicly send a representative to Beijing or a third country where they can have these exploratory discussions."

In DeTrani's view, China has some leverage with North Korea because over 90 percent of North Korea's trade is with China and over 90 percent of its crude oil requirements come from China.

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"So, asking North Korea to talk to the U.S., with no preconditions, seems like a reasonable request on the part of China," he said.

"Also, unconditional talks should be attractive to North Korea in that they can table their demands such as relief with sanctions and fewer and less intense joint military exercises."

However, DeTrani stressed the importance of securing strong missile defense capabilities while pursuing engagement strategies.

"If North Korea still refuses to enter discussions, then more missile defense systems should be deployed, as well as intensified joint military operations and additional sanctions," he said.

Stability in Northeast Asia

DeTrani, also former director of the U.S. National Counter Proliferation Center, said that the North Korean nuclear issue requires universal participation as it is a regional and global issue.

In this regard, he said that UN Security Council Resolutions should be implemented by all nations.

"The Joint Statement of September 2005 established a Task Force to discuss the creation of architecture for peace in Northeast Asia," he said.

"Such a peace architecture should be established for the entire Asia-Pacific region, with ASEAN, India and others also participating."

He stressed that the world must understand that the key to a new security environment in Northeast Asia is peaceful resolution of issues with North Korea.

In other words, eventual reunification of the Korean Peninsula will lead to peace in Northeast Asia.

So, to that end, the former director of East Asia operations of the CIA said that the first step should be getting North Korea to return to negotiations and refrain from further nuclear and missile escalation.

"With that, confidence-building measures can be introduced to build the trust necessary so as to enter into reunification discussions, possibly starting with an economic federation and progressing toward ultimate unification, with a North Korea that dismantled all of its nuclear programs," he said.

"With that, peace throughout the region would be possible and likely," he added. "Deployment of THAAD and other military deployments will then be unnecessary, thus easing the concern of China and others."

DeTrani was the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.

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