The international community should consider sending a delegation to Pyongyang which would then offer North Korea external satellite launch assistance, Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations hypothesised at a forum this afternoon.
Snyder, speaking at the Asan Institute’s “What Does North Korea Want? A Deal or a Crisis,” pointed out that the international community needs to avoid being sucked into a similar story to that which played out in 2009, and that such a “launch package” could help achieve this by serving the purpose of “making North Korea an offer they can’t refuse without facing consequences.”
Both Snyder and other participants Ralph Cossa of the Center for Strategic and International Studie and Sue Mi Terry of Columbia University agreed that while the offer would not be acceptable to North Korea, it is important for a third party (China or Russia, in particular) to make it in order to take back some of the initiative on the Korean Peninsula.
Simultaneously, Snyder called for North Korea’s launch to be brought before the UN Security Council before its scheduled launch date in mid April, while also refusing to rule out destroying rockets on the launch pad.
