Has North Korea Crossed The Line?

By Celia Canon-Talk Radio News Service

Despite President Barack Obama’s best efforts to lend a diplomatic hand to the authoritarian North Korean state, Kim Jong Il has defied recent U.N. sanctions by resuming preparations for ballistic missile tests.

While the Six-Party system, a diplomatic body made up of China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S, recently weakened following the North Korean’s resigning their participation in the talks, Pyongyang left the U.S was no bargaining tool aside from the UN.

However, UN sanctions have also failed as North Korea disdainfully ignores pressures to put an end to nuclear developments.

There is no clear consensus amongst think-tanks and scholars about what the U.S’ next step should be.

Some believe that the reunification of Korea is the solution, such as Selig Harrison, Director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy. “President Obama should declare his support for peaceful reunification through a confederation as envisioned in the North-South summit pledges of June, 2000, and October, 2007.” said Harrison, who appeared before a Foreign Affairs Joint Subcommittee hearing along with a number of other experts Wednesday.

On North Korea’s resignation from the Six-Party talks, Richard Bush, Director at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, argued that “The assumption of the Six-Party talks was that North-Korea might give up its nuclear programs…the working assumption of the Six-Party Talks no longer exists. We should remain open to a negotiated solution, but only under the right conditions.”

Thomas Hubbard, Senior Director with McLarty Associates, explained why giving in to some of the North Korean demands may be a solution.

“The North Koreans.. maintain that they are willing to return to the negotiating table only if their status as a nuclear weapons state is recognized.” said Harrison, adding that “While the potential of the DPRK actually using nuclear weapons seems remote, the risk of transfer to other dangerous countries or groups is such that we cannot rely entirely on deterrence and containment.”

Scott Snyder, Director at the Center for U.S-Korea policy and Senior Associate in International Relations for The Asia Foundation said that “Domestic factors complicate the task of engaging North Korea, either through dialogue or pressure, because the risks of engagement are heightened as long as North Korea prioritizes internal factors over the eternal environment… such a situation invited the development of a policy response that is designed to influence North-Korea’s external contexts in ways that promote collective interests.”

However, all the guests of the joint committee hearing agreed that if anything, they are convinced that the U.S cannot stand against the N.Korean regime alone.