Now is the time to use diplomacy, including strategic communication lines and negotiations, with North Korea.
There are mixed signals from the current administration regarding what diplomatic strategies it’s deploying with North Korea. Bellicose barbs have only seemed to provoke an insecure Kim Jong-un and escalate tensions, and the most recent reports from the region indicate weapon movement from the North’s Missile Research and Development Facility at Sanum-dong. There are ongoing fears that Pyongyang is preparing for a nuclear test meant to demonstrate its might to the world.
If such a test takes place, it’s not clear how the U.S. would respond. But even as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. is keeping multiple "lines of communications to Pyongyang” open, the White House has “been clear that now is not the time to talk.”
“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” President Donald Trump said on Twitter, deploying his famous nickname for North Korea’s young leader. “Save your energy, Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
To the president’s credit, his rhetoric may be part of a strategy of public tough talk aimed at keeping the North Korean leader on his toes while giving the U.S. more leverage in diplomatic negotiations. Yet there's little doubt that trading insults and threats confers a form of legitimacy and invites an escalation of words and actions.
With that said, recent administrations have failed to get North Korea to make good on its promises, and there may be wisdom in trying a different tack with hopes of better results. But all the tough talk must also be coupled with wise diplomatic maneuvering that understands the context for North Korea's strategic use of anti-American propaganda to maintain loyalty within its own country.
Graphic propaganda encouraging violence against United States presidents dates back to the rule of Kim Il-sung, the country’s first leader. Stamps produced by Il-sung’s government depicted Richard Nixon being stabbed to death by fountain pens. Recognizing its lack of leverage, North Korea began developing nuclear warheads despite signing the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1985.
In subsequent years, it failed to comply with inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which left the international diplomatic community scrambling to place pressure on the regime. Since the first Bush administration, America’s relationship with North Korea has been predicated on carrot and stick exchanges — ones that have ultimately failed. In 1994, the Clinton administration offered international aid to North Korea in exchange for the dismantling of old, Soviet-era nuclear reactors. When this failed, the U.N. implemented sanctions — which the international community has done annually since 1996.
This sensitive diplomatic volleying is consistently mediated by other states, like Sweden, and international organizations. Only rarely, however, have American presidents chosen to confer legitimacy on the North Korean regime by directly condemning them, with the most notable instance being George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” speech in 2002. Bush's National Security Adviser Colin Powell was quick to clarify publicly after that the administration was open to discussions with North Korea at "any time, any place, or anywhere without any preconditions."
This should continue to be the policy, even as the president adopts a sharper tone toward the nation. America owes it to allies in the region to keep avenues for dialogue and diplomacy open and avoid painting the international community into a corner. While North Korea’s nuclear program presents a dire threat to stability in Northeast Asia, that threat only underscores the need for deploying effective dialogue to curb, rather than provoke, further aggression.