Powers work in concert to contain N Korea N-ambitions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed in his New Year’s message that the development of banned intercontinental long-range missiles is in ‘final stages’. US president-elect tweeted the following day: it won’t happen. Kim also vowed to further enhance his country’s military capability unless the US ends war games with rival South Korea.
Trump is confident that Pyongyang will not be able to develop a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit US mainland. But he will have to devise a way to stop the reclusive communist country from developing its nuclear capabilities. Diplomacy has failed to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program. Sanctions haven’t worked. And no one has appetite for military actions.
Nobody can say for sure the exact state of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, but the last five atomic test explosions and a rising number of ballistic missile test launches show that North Korea can arm short- and mid-range missiles with atomic warheads.
That would allow Pyongyang to threaten US forces stationed in Asia and add teeth to its threat last year to use nuclear weapons to ‘sweep Guam, the base of provocations, from the surface of the earth.’
For more than two decades, US administrations have tried carrots and sticks to push North Korea away from nuclear weapons. Each has failed. And as Trump prepares to take office January 20, the stakes are rising.
Diplomacy with the North is a delicate dance and agreements have proved temporary. Three US administrations, going back to President Bill Clinton, have persuaded the North to disarm in exchange for aid. Each effort eventually failed, and there is deep skepticism in Congress about trying again.
Six-nation nuclear negotiations hosted by Beijing have been on ice since North Korea withdrew in 2009. The Obama administration attempted to restart them in 2012 by offering food aid for a nuclear and missile freeze. Within weeks, the North went ahead and tried to launch a long-range rocket. The effort was abandoned.
International sanctions have tightened since North Korea conducted its first of five nuclear tests in 2006. But the country has so far succeeded to circumvent restrictions on sensitive technology and money flows.
US slapped additional sanctions on North Korea in the wake of its submarine-launched ballistic missiles. They, too, have not been effective. North Korea’s international isolation makes is less prone to monetary and trade sanctions.
The military action against North does not seem to be a viable option. Bill Clinton considered a military strike after Pyongyang announced it would reprocess fuel from a nuclear reactor, providing it plutonium for bombs. But it was later abandoned.
A military strike would be harder to pull off now. North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile programs significantly, meaning more targets would have
to be hit.
China’s role in containing North Korea’s nuke program is critical. It dominates trade with the North and has resisted sanctions that could destabilize Pyongyang, fearing the possibility of a US-allied, unified Korea emerging.
The successive US administrations have failed to break Beijing’s partnership with Pyongyang. Beijing is the sole national umbilical cord of North Korea.
Trump criticized China for not doing more to discourage North Korea from its nuclear weapons program. While Beijing has publicly reprimanded Pyongyang after nuclear tests and has agreed to rounds of UN sanctions against the North, China is yet to do enough to tighten economic pressure against the hermit state. World powers must stop the blame game. The international community should act responsible and work in concert to pull the issue back to dialogue and negotiation.