Donald Trump can make the deal of the century with Kim Jong-un – if he offers North Korea a blueprint to a ‘brighter future’
- Chan Young Bang says the US lacks a strategy that accounts for the goals of all stakeholders on the peninsula and Kim Jong-un’s desire for regime stability
- Sanctions and diplomatic pressure should be supplemented by the promise of an economic development fund, infrastructural support and security guarantees
When reading most commentaries on North Korea over the past few months, one might be convinced that the world sits at a historic juncture for the Korean peninsula. Against this prevalent, though moderate, optimism, I argue that the moment is crucial — but for reasons currently ignored by the sea of mainstream analyses and op-eds.
To date, there is no indication that either the US or South Korea possess a coherent, tangible plan to deliver on this promise, let alone a strategy that can be shared by all the stakeholders – China, Russia and Japan – whose support is essential, as no single actor possesses all the necessary sticks and carrots to persuade North Korea to denuclearise.
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The current US approach, as summarised by Pompeo, offers North Korea nothing valuable; it simply stipulates that a poor, unstable and nuclear-armed state should be disarmed — but then what? Why should Kim embrace a strategy which provides neither a viable survival plan for the regime nor a road map to economic prosperity for the nation?
If Trump truly intends to achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea, he needs to offer Kim a comprehensive package deal that he cannot refuse.
Such an offer, however, must ensure a “brighter future” for all of the stakeholders and their respective security interests — denuclearisation accompanied by rapid economic modernisation and market-oriented reform, which together would ensure permanent peace, stability and lasting prosperity on the Korean peninsula.
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However, a policy that meets the stakeholders’ objectives must also satisfy Kim’s — to preserve his regime at all costs. For him to even consider a deal, it must guarantee his regime a significantly better chance at survival through rapid and sustained economic modernisation.
Together, in the face of debilitating economic sanctions and pressure enforced by China and Russia, nuclear deterrence and diplomatic isolation, the prospect of receiving an economic development fund from the collective stakeholder nations, infrastructural support from South Korea to transition to a market-oriented economy, the normalisation of diplomatic relations with the US and Japan, and firm security guarantees and reassurances of alliances would become evermore appealing to a country that prioritises survival above all else.
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Trump, Moon and Kim are in a quandary. They have gone from harsh, intimidating rhetoric to the bargaining table in the span of mere months and are now stalling over their next steps.
Should Trump approach the upcoming talks with a viable blueprint in hand — one that meets the security interests of all the stakeholders and offers North Korea a tangible survival strategy — he will guarantee not only denuclearisation but also peace, prosperity, and the institution of the brightest of futures on the Korean peninsula.
Dr Chan Young Bang is president of KIMEP University, principal investigator at the DPRK Strategic Research Centre, and former economic adviser to both President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev