Title

The North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Past Failures and Present Solutions

Abstract

North Korea has recently announced that it has developed nuclear weapons and has pulled out of the six-party talks. These events do not emerge out of a vacuum, and this article lends perspective based on an interdisciplinary lens that seeks to grapple with the complexities and provide constructive approaches based on this well-researched understanding. This article analyzes political, military, historical, legal and other angles of this international crisis.

Past dealings with North Korea have been unfruitful because other nations do not recognize the ties between North Korean acts and its ideology and objectives. For a satisfactory resolution to the current crisis, South Korea and the U.S. must maintain sufficient deterrence, focus on multi-lateral and international avenues, and increase the negative and later positive incentives for North Korean compliance with its international obligations.

From an international legal and international organizations perspective, the multilateral talks can be bolstered by inclusion of the United Nations Secretary General as a proactive mediator. It can call for, if necessary and after the failure of other means, UN Security Council action and the reinstitution of the IAEA to do its duly constituted work of preventing proliferation. If these approaches succeed, the peninsula, region and world will become better places as a result.

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Human Rights Law | International Law | Law and Economics | Law and Society | Public Law and Legal Theory | Social Welfare Law | State and Local Government Law

Date of this Version

March 2005