CIAO DATE: 07/2013
May 2013
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
The third nuclear test conducted by North Korea - the first ever in the 21st century - on 12 February 2013, the new sanctions imposed by the Security Council of the United Nations and the spiral of tension taking place between Pyongyang and the regional powers have again brought the North Korean issue to the forefront of the international agenda. The threat of North Korea to engage, inter alia, the US and its allies in nuclear war, as rhetorical as it may be, is a strong reminder of the inability of the international community to solve this issue over the last two decades. The response of the international community has demonstrated unusual unanimity with the condemnation of the recent North Korean provocations and the adoption of the Security Council Resolution 2094 that severs an already tightened sanctions regime against North Korea. Yet this unanimity is also the lowest common denominator between the major regional actors, the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. Besides the apparent propensity of Pyongyang to develop its nuclear program against all odds, differences in strategic interests and growing competition between the major regional powers impede a comprehensive handling of the North Korean nuclear issue, a situation that Pyongyang has been skilled at maneuvering to its advantage. The North Korean nuclear issue, including the proliferation potential, is today one of the trickiest global security issues, along with cyber security and the Iranian nuclear crisis. The fact that more than two decades of uneven negotiation processes have not yielded results and that today North Korea is getting closer to a full nuclear capability without any prospect of settling this issue, or reaching a peace arrangement in the peninsula, does not bode well for global governance in an increasingly multi-polar world. This publication intends to present the views of prominent experts from China, the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and Europe on the global implications of the pursuit of the North Korean nuclear program as well as the possible options to break the current stalemate. It starts with a background on the international efforts made in regard to the North Korean nuclear program and an analytical summary of the experts’ contributions.
Resource link: World Views : Negotiating the North Korean Nuclear Issue [PDF]