I Negotiated with North Korea for 13 Years. Here Is What I Learned.
These are important lessons that can help guide negotiators through the thicket of obstacles they will confront in achieving U.S. goals with North Korea.
Implementation of Any Agreement Will Take Years and Verification Is Key
Given the complexity of North Korea’s plutonium and uranium enrichment programs, and the verification challenges to ensure compliance with its denuclearization commitments, implementation of any agreement will take considerable time. Washington will need to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), probably China and Russia and other nuclear weapons states who can assist with the dismantlement of nuclear weapons and the disablement of nuclear weapons facilities. Verification will be a major challenge with any agreement. In 2009, implementation of the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement that committed North Korea to complete denuclearization came to an abrupt halt when North Korea refused to sign a verification protocol permitting nuclear monitors to visit non-declared suspect nuclear sites. At North Korea’s insistence, that was the end of the Six Party process that started in 2003.
Conclusion
These are just some of the lessons learned from years of negotiations and talks with North Korean officials. Hopefully, as we enter into working-level negotiations, we will benefit from all we have learned from these experiences.
Ambassador Joseph R. DeTrani was the Special Envoy for negotiations with North Korea from 2003-2006 and the Associate Director of National Intelligence and North Korea Mission Manager from 2006 to 2010 and the Director of the National Counterproliferation Center until 2012. The views are the author’s and not any government agency or department.