Little Reason for Big Hope from Korea

Posted: January 11th, 2018

By Joseph DeTrani

Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is former Special envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea and the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO), as well as former CIA director of East Asia Operations. He also served as the Associate Director of National Intelligence and Mission Manager for North Korea and the Director of the National Counter Proliferation Center, while also serving as a Special Adviser to the Director of National Intelligence. He currently serves on the Board of Managers at Sandia National Laboratories. The views expressed represent those of the author.

North Korea made clear its aim to divide the U.S. from its South Korean ally when the North and South negotiators met this week: “All our weapons, including atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and ballistic missile are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren, nor China and Russia,” said North Korea’s delegation leader Ri Son Gwon. “We came to this meeting [with South Korea] with the thought of giving our brethren, who have high hopes for this dialogue, invaluable results as the first present of the year.”

Wow! There was great clarity and arrogance in these and other statements from the North Korean representative, who spent 10 hours in discussions with his South Korean counterpart. You have to give it to North Korea — there’s no ambiguity when you’re dealing with them: The U.S. is the enemy, so South Korea, China and Russia, relax, we won’t use our nuclear weapons against you.

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