Report urges tougher alliance on North Korea

The Council on Foreign Relations published a report Friday recommending that the next US administration change the nation’s foreign policy towards North Korea.

The report urges the administration to put more pressure on North Korea, including not ruling out the option of conducting airstrikes, in a bid to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear missiles that have the ability to strike the United States.

The report reflects a strong sense of crisis among US experts, in the wake of apparent improvement in North Korea’s capability to miniaturise nuclear weapons and its technology to launch ballistic missiles.

The report was compiled by the council’s Independent Task Force, chaired by Mike Mullen, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Sam Nunn, a former US senator. 

The report also urges the administration to propose the resumption of negotiations with North Korea, such as reopening the six-party talks that have been stalled since December 2008, on condition that North Korea complies with the joint statement of the six-party talks held in September 2005.

That statement clearly said that North Korea committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons.

However, the US report also stresses on the need of strengthening deterrence if North Korea rejects the proposal.

For example, Japan, the United States and South Korea would declare that an attack by North Korea against any of the countries is an attack against all of them, and the three countries would signal that North Korea’s future aggression will be met with an active and proportionate response, which may include strikes against military targets inside North Korea.

The report urges the administration to encourage China to cooperate on the issue. It also emphasises the importance of strengthening the defence posture of the United States and its allies instead of merely waiting for China’s cooperation.



Copyright: The Japan News/ Asia News Network