Policy Forum

Masahiro Matsumura, Professor of International Politics at St. Andrew’s University (Momoyama Gakuin Daigaku) in Osaka, writes, “At this moment, Washington should continue to block this aid as a matter of policy discretion through the Boards of Governors and the Executive Boards, wherein Tokyo also possesses a significant voting power to support Washington. Pyongyang will then be subjected to further economic penetration by China, involving the deepening of China’s actual economic colonization. Under these parameters, Pyongyang would be constrained to negotiate sincerely with Washington and Tokyo.”

Mark J. Valencia, a Maritime Policy Analyst and a Nautilus Institute Senior Associate, writes, “the littoral states of the Sulu Sea need to gain the “confidence” of the United States that they can – with capacity building and the right equipment – handle the problem themselves. The first steps would be to agree to co-ordinated patrols, ‘hand-off’ hot pursuit, and an ‘eye in the sky’ arrangement.”

Wooksik Cheong, representative of Peace Network Korea, writes, “Eventually, ‘practically complete denuclearization’ requires Bush’s determination as much as Kim Jong-il’s. Particularly, a DPRK-U.S. Summit is essential for a final agreement between the two nations. The most practical and symbolic way to show the end of hostile relations between the U.S. and DPRK is to create a scene of a firm handshake between Bush and Kim.”

Andrei Lankov, an Associate Professor at Kookmin University, Seoul, and Adjunct Research Fellow at the Research School of Pacifica and Asian Studies, Australian National University, writes, “The efforts of the negotiators are not likely to produce the ideal outcome, that is, complete and verifiable destruction of all North Korean nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, it is possible to achieve the compromise, which will make the further increase of the North Korean nuclear arsenal difficult.”

The U.S. Department of State released this fact sheet on the disablement of the Yongbyon reactor, the lifting of the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to the DPRK and intent to the rescind the DPRK’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Ralph Cossa, President of the Pacific Forum CSIS, writes, “Some have argued that it would make more sense to wait until the list is delivered and verified before restrictions are lifted, and they are probably right. Unfortunately, that was not what Washington promised. If we have learned nothing else about North Korea we should know one thing by now: While Pyongyang might not be too good at living up to its own promises, it will not budge an inch if it perceives that others are not living up to theirs.”

Tong Kim, former senior interpreter at the U.S. State Department and now a visiting professor with the Graduate University of North Korean Studies, a research professor with Ilmin Institute of International Relations at Korea University and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, writes, “Final denuclearization would require the normalization of relations between the United States and the DPRK… Any way one looks at the prospects of the six party process, it clearly has a long way to go yet with many difficult problems to surmount in the path.”

Emanuel Pastreich, Director of the Asia Institute at the SolBridge School of Business in Daejeon, South Korea and a senior fellow at the US-Japan-China Comparative Policy Research Institute (CPRI), and John Feffer, the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, write, “In that spirit of compassion, let us rebuild Wenchuan, the victim of an act of nature, with an eye toward rebuilding all of our cities, the victims of our blind embrace of unsustainable growth.”

Victor Cha, Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, adjunct Senior Fellow at the Pacific Council for International Policy, and former director of Asian Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council, writes, “It would be completely irresponsible not to have a quiet discussion among concerned governments about how to deal with potential North Korean instability… it has to be done — and done well — before the next rumor proves to be true.”

Andrei Lankov, an Associate Professor at Kookmin University, Seoul, and Adjunct Research Fellow at the Research School of Pacifica and Asian Studies, Australian National University, writes, “sooner or later Lee Myong-bak and his advisers will have to reconsider the “Northern question” and come out with a strategy that has a chance to work… Quite likely, their answer will be some kind of engagement policy, in other words, a re-worked and re-branded version of the Sunshine Policy.”