Former nuclear negotiator stresses talks with N. Korea

2024-06-15 06:40:20      点击：301

Robert Gallucci, a former U.S. special envoy to North Korea, speaks in the National Assembly, Monday. / Yonhap

By Choi Ha-young

Robert Gallucci, the chief negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, called for dialogue with the North to make a breakthrough in the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, during his speech at Seoul's National Assembly, Monday.

Gallucci, chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., reiterated the U.S. should negotiate with Pyongyang, if there's room for improved circumstances through the negotiation.

"What we should not ask is a perfect deal. We should not ask how much does it cost," Gallucci said in an event co-hosted by Reps. Kim Kyung-hyup and Lee Tae-kyu, members of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

"We should rather ask are we better off with the deal," the former special envoy noted, referring to his past experience of talking with his North Korean counterpart Kang Sok-ju in Geneva, Switzerland.

"In 1994, our intelligence community estimated North Korea was capable to produce 200 kilograms of plutonium a year. However, when President George Bush came into office in 2001, North Korea had zero nuclear weapons," he said. "Did the North cheat us? The answer is yes. However, the deal was still a good one."

Asked about the specific benefits of beginning talks with the North, Galluci said: "The first thing that will immediately happen is that everybody will stop talking about military options and tension will go down. The second thing is that we can continue to make a case for the nuclear-free Korean peninsula. We can also talk about a peace treaty to replace the armistice."

Among the four possible measures ― military action, diplomacy, sanctions and containment ― that could be adopted to deter the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, he consistently ruled out the military option. "There's no good military option. Military options are never without cost and risk."

He asserted that sanctions are not an effective tool to bring a regime collapse. "Don't imagine that sanctions will cause so much pain that the North will abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles." Regarding containment, Gallucci pointed out that containment should be aimed at diplomacy.

Gallucci touched on the conflicting messages from the U.S. government. Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, "We are ready to have the first meeting without precondition" during an event in Washington D.C. A few days later, however, the secretary said the North must follow a "sustained cessation of its threatening behavior."

Saying he favors the first version of the secretary, Galluci said that the U.S. government does not have a unified stance toward Pyongyang.

"I think the different messages are not planned to confuse people. I think those messages are less disciplined than previous American administrations," he said. "Officials could have different views, but it seems those views are not sorted out in an inter-agency process."