The path N. Korea should take in Obama’s nuclear-free world

U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed Russia that the two countries reduce their nuclear arsenals by one third. After calling for a “nuclear-free world” four years ago, Obama signed with Russia the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) , which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 by 2018. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to strengthen his country’s nuclear arsenal on the day when the U.S. president proposed nuclear arms reduction, it is likely that the two countries begin new negotiations considering the history of the two countries’ nuclear arms reduction. If Russia agrees, the two countries can reduce their nuclear warheads to around 1,000.

If the two countries significantly reduce their nuclear arsenal, they have a cause for urging other countries to follow suit. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Britain has about 300 nuclear weapons, and France and China have 250, respectively. Obama stressed the need to establish an international regime for preventing proliferation pursued by North Korea and Iran and for peaceful use of nuclear energy. He intends to use nuclear arms reduction as a driving force for preventing proliferation. After the heads of the G8 countries held a summit in Northern Ireland, they urged North Korea to give up its nuclear program “in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.” The United Nations also plans to add four North Korean agencies and eight individuals to its list of those subject to sanctions.

The chief negotiators of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan for the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the North have agreed that Pyongyang should implement stronger obligations than were agreed in the February 29, 2012 agreement between Washington and Pyongyang. That means that the three countries will not condone the North’s nuclear activities, including its third nuclear test, by resuming the six-party talks as if nothing had happened.

Kim Kye Kwan, the North`s first vice foreign minister, said during his recent visit to China that Pyongyang wanted to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully by participating in talks, including the six-party negotiations. But what is important is not words but actions. The North cannot avoid isolation and sanctions if it continues developing its nuclear program. If the North’s leader Kim Jong Un is capable of reading the international political situation, he should find an exit, the abandonment of the North’s nuclear development.