[INTERVIEW] Ex

Robert Gallucci, a distinguished professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and chief U.S. negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at Yonsei University in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shin Yong-ju

Robert Gallucci, the chief negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, said normalizing relations with North Korea should come before discussing denuclearization.

As denuclearization is increasingly seen as an unlikely outcome amid stalled diplomacy and North Korea’s continued provocative threats, the United States should push toward forging normal ties as an effort to engage Pyongyang, according to Gallucci.

“The only way we're going to get at the nuclear issue, in my view, is to change the nature of the political and diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and the DPRK and that is going to require improvement of relations, diminishing the threat at all times,” Gallucci said during an interview with The Korea Times at Yonsei University, Tuesday. The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Gallucci, a distinguished professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, explained that the threat from North Korea has evolved to the point that the U.S. ballistic missile defense may not be particularly effective against the North’s sophisticated attack. In January, he wrote in National Interest that “we should at least entertain the thought that nuclear war could break out in Northeast Asia in 2024.”

“Now we are starting to get into a much more dangerous situation in terms of nuclear weapons. An increased level of threat from North Korea is largely due to two things — their capability to do damage and their declaratory posture,” he said.

“We are now dealing with a nuclear weapons state that has somewhere between 50 and 100 nuclear weapons. They’ve gotten better in accuracy, reliability and perhaps even in sophistication.”

Asked if North Korea’s failed satellite launch has any implications, he said, “I would say that's not significant. If you look at the American or the Russian development of ballistic missiles — particularly the very long range ones like ICBMs — there are lots of failures in developing.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Tongchang-ri, North Korea, in this undated photo provided by the North Korean government, March 11. AP-Yonhap

Gallucci asserted there is no geostrategic or permanent reason for hostility between Pyongyang and Washington, adding that the U.S. should be looking for areas in which it can have a useful conversation with the reclusive regime.

“The Biden administration doesn’t want to be responsible for having no progress in reducing tensions with the DPRK. It also has a prejudice that if we invest in negotiations with the North, there’s a high chance it will fail,” he said.

The former nuclear envoy stressed that the U.S. can have relations with countries whose values don't match perfectly with its own and who don't live in a Jeffersonian democracy.

“I wouldn’t remove sanctions now without cause, but I would look for sanctions relief to be part of a negotiation. We might be able to scale back ROK-U.S. military exercises to dial them (the DPRK) back a little. Maybe we can get the Chinese to help,” he said. ROK refers to the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.

Stressing that denuclearization is a realistic, but long-term goal, Gallucci said the trilateral summit involving South Korea, Japan and China can serve as an opening for negotiations with North Korea.

“I hope the Japanese and the South Koreans emphasized to the Chinese to assist in restraining North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his enthusiasm for highlighting the threat he presents to everybody in Northeast Asia except China,” he said.

“There's a new relationship between Pyeongyang and Moscow, which may worry Beijing, but the relationship between China and North Korea has been a durable one. So we would like the Chinese to use their influence to help loosen the North Korean position.”

Robert Gallucci, then U.S. ambassador-at-large and special envoy for the U.S. Department of State focused on the non-proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction, shakes hands with then-President Kim Young-sam at Cheong Wa Dae in this Sept. 11, 1993 photo. Korea Times file

Gallucci downplayed concerns regarding Russia’s potential transfer of sensitive military technology to North Korea.

“I don't know whether to believe it or not, but Russians have at least given some of our colleagues assurances that they would not do bad things or stupid things like getting involved with the transfer of sensitive technology to North Korea,” he said.

Asked about his thoughts on a growing call in South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons as a means of deterring a nuclear strike from the North, he said it is a matter of a sovereign decision for South Korea to make.

However, he remained skeptical about whether Seoul could enhance its own security by developing its own nuclear weapons.

“If deterrence is going to work against North Korea, the U.S. extended deterrence will be much stronger than your own deterrence. For traditional U.S. administrations, we would be very negative about that idea because we think the spread of nuclear weapons without respect to whom diminishes our security,” he said.