CONFRONTATION OR DIALOGUE? DEVELOPMENT, PRESENT CONDITION AND PROBLEMS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USA AND NORTH KOREA

Author： SCHMIDT HANS-JOACHIM

Publisher： Taylor & Francis Ltd

ISSN： 0323-3790

Source： Asien Afrika Latinamerika, Vol.30, Iss.6, 2002-12, pp. : 597-616

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Abstract

The North Korean admission to a visiting US delegation on 4 October 2002 in Pyongyang that it is conducting a nuclear enrichment program could escalate into a second major international conflict which parallels the Iraq crisis. The program damages the General Framework Agreement of 1994, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the North-South declaration of a denuclearised Korean Peninsula of 20 January 1992. In looking at the history of American-North Korean relations since 1992, it is argued that the DPRK alone cannot be blamed for the present situation, because the new Bush administration adopted with its new "comprehensive concept" a hawkish approach towards North Korea, and the hard-liners there were able to increase their hindrances to the South Korean sunshine policy (detente policy). Without the serious willingness to engage in dialogue on the US side, and the readiness of both sides to bridge the gap between their incompatible foreign policy approaches, we will face a nuclear North Korea very soon, and will be forced to look for new strategies to cope with it.