Kim Jong Il, enjoying the global spotlight during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao\u2019s visit, said that North Korea\u2019s return to the Six-Party Talks was contingent upon progress in bilateral talks with the U.S. while unashamedly receiving gifts and aid commemorating the 60th anniversary of North Korea-China relations.<\/p>\n
Kim then proceeded to say everything that he wanted to say, and that he always says, “Denuclearization in Chosun is the dying wish of Chairman Kim Il Sung, and hostile relations between the U.S. and North Korea should be restored through bilateral negotiations.” By replaying yet again the repertoire which North Korea has been using for the last 20 years, he seems to have put the ball in the U.S.’ court… yet again. <\/p>\n
One newspaper has reported that Kim Jong Il garnered as much as $200 million from the recent visit. He reaped this astronomical sum of money from a single statement, and China, either oblivious or just to hide its embarrassment, has been wildly enthusiastic. <\/p>\n
Xinhua News cited the words of Premier Wen, “We favorably evaluate North Korea’s position of trying to achieve the goal of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula through dialogue within the framework of multilateral talks, including the Six-Party Talks. China also hopes to cooperate with the North in other areas in order to actively contribute to progress in the country, maintain peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region and to achieve denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.”<\/p>\n
Naturally, Kim, in the three day talks, did not neglect to offer a strand of hope to surrounding countries. He encouraged news commentaries to convey the message that he intends to participate based on the results of U.S.-North Korea bilateral talks.<\/p>\n
The Six-Party Talks are an international framework established to facilitate North Korean denuclearization. As in the past, the participating nations (South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia) have wasted time and money trying to get North Korea to return to the talks. What is it about Kim that allows him to lure money to the North whilst upgrading his nuclear weapons?<\/p>\n
The reason is his “exclusive predominance” strategy. Since the dropping of American nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nakasaki in 1945, exclusive predominance has been achieved with a combination of nuclear weapons and the key global currency (U.S. dollars). Kim, by upgrading North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability, is playing the game of trying to continuously occupy the Northeast Asian agenda.<\/p>\n
However, in order for North Korea to grow over the long term, it should adopt reform and opening as its national strategy. Of course, if this route were chosen, then 23 million North Korean citizens would live, but Kim Jong Il himself would die. Kim believes that his regime is more important than the lives of 23 million North Korean people. For his survival, his nuclear weapons must be maintained and the issue must stay at the top of the international agenda.<\/p>\n
Then what can be done? <\/p>\n
The nuclear issue must be incapacitated. In other words, the international community should ensure that Kim’s nuclear issue does not remain the issue of exclusive predominance over all others.<\/p>\n
There are two issues which Kim Jong Il fears the most: human rights and the regime opening. From Kim’s perspective, it will be highly disadvantageous for the \u201cNorth Korean issue\u201d to move from nuclear weapons and missiles to human rights and the opening of the regime. Kim knows that very well, as was clear when he threatened to cut off all inter-Korean exchanges if the North Korean human rights issue was raised during the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun administrations. <\/p>\n
So, while continuing the denuclearization process within the Six-Party Talks, the other five countries must work to force the country to open up and the United Nations, the international media and human rights NGOs should continue to speak out on human rights issues. This is the only way that Kim’s nuclear weapons might cease to be of exclusive predominance. <\/p>\n
In addition, the governments of South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia will only be able to resolve the nuclear issue by choosing a two-track strategy of attempting to achieve denuclearization (track A) while trying to open up the North (track B). Otherwise, the nuclear issue will roll on because this is the only path of survival for Kim at the moment.<\/p>\n
In particular, Premier Wen ought to know that he returned empty-handed from Pyongyang after giving a great deal of money to the North, and should start building solidarity with South Korea.<\/p>\n
In order for the Lee Myung Bak administration’s \u201cGrand Bargain\u201d to succeed, it will be almost impossibly difficult to guarantee success on track A alone. Track B is needed in order for success to be achieved. Additionally, the administration must clearly realize that track B is not a substitute for track A, but a supplement to it.<\/p>\n
Track B will open North Korea and enable 23 million citizens to become the sovereign of North Korea. This project requires thorough preparation, starting with a comprehensive roadmap with the international community at its center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kim Jong Il, enjoying the global spotlight during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao\u2019s visit, said that North Korea\u2019s return to the Six-Party Talks was contingent upon progress in bilateral talks with the U.S. while unashamedly receiving gifts and aid commemorating the 60th anniversary of North Korea-China relations. Kim then proceeded to say everything that he wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":10159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n