In Hindsight: Negotiating with North Korea
The Hermit Kingdom is the foreign-policy headache that just won't go away. With the Bush administration set to have another shot at solving this puzzle, FP dips into its archives for advice on how to negotiate with North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il.
"The United States will get nowhere with the North Koreans if they feel humiliated. 'We will die rather than bow to you,' North Korean officials say."
-- John Curtis Perry
"Dateline North Korea: A Communist Holdout " (Fall 1990)
"The United States will get nowhere with the North Koreans if they feel humiliated. ‘We will die rather than bow to you,’ North Korean officials say."
— John Curtis Perry
"Dateline North Korea: A Communist Holdout " (Fall 1990)
"Kim Jong Il… is not the charismatic, revered figure that his father was. Significant interest group and personal rivalries inside the regime have become visible, leading to tortuous processes of accommodation and delays in decision making. The armed forces and the internal security services play an increasingly assertive role."
— Selig S. Harrison
"Promoting a Soft Landing in Korea" (Spring 1997)
"Kim Jong Il is as rational and calculating as he is brutal. Dictators generally want to survive, and Kim is no exception…. But his rationality does not make him any less dangerous."
— David C. Kang and Victor D. Cha
"Think Again: The Korea Crisis" (May/June 2003)
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