NEGATIVE/ROGUES/NORTH KOREA

THE BEST POLICY TOWARDS NORTH KOREA IS TO END ALL COOPERATION

BEST WAY TO STOP NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION IS TO STOP ALL COOPERATION WITH THEM

Editorial; The Boston Herald, October 17, 1999, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 026, HEADLINE: New North Korea policy is needed // ln-10-29-99-acs

If the Clinton administration really cares about nuclear proliferation, it will make sure North Korea cannot make nuclear weapons - or at least any more - and not rely on promises from madmen. This means ending the program to provide new nuclear reactors and substituting other power plants. The North Korean regime has gone back on enough promises - it is still launching guerrilla attacks on South Korea - to justify dropping the reactors even if it doesn't agree.

ISOLATING NORTH KOREA IS THE BEST WAY TO GET RID OF ITS CURENT DANGEROUS GOVERNMENT

Editorial; The Boston Herald, October 17, 1999, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 026, HEADLINE: New North Korea policy is needed // ln-10-29-99-acs

This should not be done without a great effort to persuade North Korea to comply, an effort which should be targeted at all reasonably competent elements of society, including the armed forces. Anyone contemplating a coup be able to see the prospect of a better life, and should understand that an end to the government's bitter isolation from the world would be welcomed by the country's neighbors.

GUARDING THE NORTH KOREAN SYSTEM AGAINST ITS OWN DECLINE WORSENS FUTURE HARM SCENARIOS PREVENTS US FROM MOVING TO A STABLE AND PEACEFUL NORTHEAST ASIA

Nicholas Eberstadt The National Interest 1999 FALL HEADLINE: The Most Dangerous Country // acs-ln-12-28-99

Conceptualizing the Korean Peninsula within a two-state framework almost ineluctably leads international policymakers to guard the North Korean system against its own decline--even though such support may ultimately worsen the security threats that those policymakers can expect to face in the future. For the stability and prosperity of Northeast Asia--and regions far beyond--it is therefore imperative for concerned governments to get out of the intellectual sand trap from which a Korean Peninsula without the DPRK cannot be seen. We must begin to think carefully about the implications, problems and opportunities inherent in a post-DPRK Korea.

THE LONGER WE SUPPORT AND COOPERATE WITH THE APPROACH OF THE CURRENT NORTH KOREAN REGIME, THE LESS LIKELY WE ARE TO GET TO A PEACEFUL AND STABLE NORTHEAST ASIA

Nicholas Eberstadt The National Interest 1999 FALL HEADLINE: The Most Dangerous Country // acs-ln-12-28-99

This is not an impossible exercise. One can easily envision a less troubled Korean Peninsula than the one we know today. Korean unification under a peaceable, politically free, market-oriented system--a system much like South Korea's today--would contribute immeasurably to political stability and economic prosperity, not only in Northeast Asia but well beyond it.

To be sure, we can expect arduous challenges and serious obstacles to any effort to construct a post-DPRK architecture for the Korean Peninsula. But prepared governments may have ways to mitigate them or circumvent them altogether. Indeed, the costs and difficulties attendant in establishing a successful post-North Korean order in Northeast Asia will very likely climb the longer the current regime remains in power.

WE MUST BEGIN TO PREPARE FOR THE END OF NORTH KOREA IN ORDER TO DEAL BETTER WITH THE INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH AN EVENT

Nicholas Eberstadt The National Interest 1999 FALL HEADLINE: The Most Dangerous Country // acs-ln-12-28-99

Throughout its tenure, the DPRK has demonstrated its continuing capacity to surprise, usually in unpleasant ways. In the period ahead, more such surprises undoubtedly await us. They will be distinctly less unpleasant if our citizens and statesmen do not take the end of North Korea to be an unimaginable proposition.