Home  Contemporary Issues The North Korean Nuclear Talks: Shadow or Substance?
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The North Korean Nuclear Talks: Shadow or Substance? |
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The ongoing Six-Party Talks in Beijing are poised to settle many questions, but one question looms over all others. Are the negotiations an earnest attempt by all parties to achieve denuclearization? Or are they simply a stage for insincere, ultimately empty, political theater? James Walsh, the then executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, attempted to tackle this question by drawing on his impressions gleaned from recent meetings with officials in the DPRK. Walsh began by reporting that the officials with whom he met had made numerous, sometimes surprising, remarks on the negotiations. For example, they asserted that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula had been Kim Il-Sung's "dying wish," as a way of suggesting just how ardently they are committed to the achievement of this goal. Walsh also reported that the officials also seemed to be committed to engagement with the outside world. Noting that both military and trade officials cited increased foreign direct investment as one of their top priorities, he was surprised when they asked him if Harvard could send them marketing and accounting textbooks. Still, he noted, the road is still far from clear of obstacles as both sides are at loggerheads over the North's demand for a light water reactor. And though pro-engagement figures are steering policy on both sides, forces that favor confrontation are watching them closely and warily. What's vital at this point, Walsh added, was that the negotiators work towards building a "fault tolerant" relationship. During protracted talks it's inevitable that events will strain the participants' mutual trust, but such strains shouldn't be allowed to derail the diplomatic process. In a closing assessment of the talks currently underway, Walsh said "I think there's a 30-percent chance [the talks] are meaningful, and that in five years we'll be somewhere."
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