USA-North Korea Relations, What Would USA Do to Deal With Problem of North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons?, Policy And Politics International Perspective Paper, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Spring 2006 Background Information About USA-North Korea Relations : North Korea has a centralized government under the rigid control of the communist Korean Workers' Party (KWP), to which all government officials belong. U.S.-North Korea relations developed primarily during the Korean War, but in recent years have been largely defined by the United States' suspicions regarding North Korea's nuclear programs, and North Korea's perception of an imminent U.S. attack. North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons, and is widely believed to have a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons, deliverable by artillery against South Korea. Different presidents have dealt with North Korea in different ways. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the 42nd and 43rd presidents respectively also tried at the beginning of their tenure as president to ignore the brewing problems in North Korea. Their decisions in dealing with North Korea would help to define their early reputations as foreign policy makers. Many similarities can be seen, however, between how Clinton started dealing with North Korea and how Bush started out dealing with North Korea.

1. POLICY PAPER
ON
USA-NORTH KOREA RELATIONS
WHAT WOULD USA DO TO DEAL WITH PROBLEM
OF NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
(Policy and Politics International Perspective)
Ergul HALISCELIK
Senior Treasury Controller
Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Undersecretariat of Treasury
Policy Paper, Spring 2006
H. John Heinz III College, Carnegie Mellon University

2. Background Information About USA-North Korea Relations :
North Korea has a centralized government under the rigid control of the communist Korean
Workers' Party (KWP), to which all government officials belong.1 U.S.-North Korea relations
developed primarily during the Korean War, but in recent years have been largely defined by the
United States' suspicions regarding North Korea's nuclear programs, and North Korea's perception of
an imminent U.S. attack. North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons, and is widely believed to
have a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons, deliverable by artillery against South Korea.2
Different presidents have dealt with North Korea in different ways. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,
the 42nd and 43rd presidents respectively also tried at the beginning of their tenure as president to
ignore the brewing problems in North Korea. Their decisions in dealing with North Korea would help
to define their early reputations as foreign policy makers. Many similarities can be seen, however,
between how Clinton started dealing with North Korea and how Bush started out dealing with North
Korea.3
Clinton’s and Bush’s policies toward North Korea:
Clinton started out trying to altogether ignore some important problems brewing in North
Korea. However, Clinton very rapidly understood to deal with North Korea when fears starting to take
place that they were generating materials for nuclear weapons with their small nuclear reactor in
Yongbyon. Clinton, in response to these fears, decided to begin military training exercises, known as
Team Spirit, in South Korea. This flexing of military muscle prompted North Korea to threaten to pull
out of the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). After some negotiations North Korea agreed to pull back
on their threat of withdrawing from the NPT. This led Clinton to reward North Korea for its reversal
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3. by not considering any trade sanction or military actions against the North Korea. Clinton
administration supported the idea that the military coercion was not an effective policy. On October
12, 1994, the United States and North Korea signed the "Agreed Framework4
George W. Bush also started out with a policy of indifference towards North Korea. But policy
was changed after September 11, 2001. In 2002, the Administration also became aware that North
Korea was developing a uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons purposes. U.S.- North
Korea tensions accumulated, when Bush classified North Korea as part of the "Axis of Evil" in his
2002 State of the Union address. North Korea's conventional force posture, missile development and
export programs, human rights practices, and humanitarian are important issues for the Bush
Administration. Another trend that can be seen early on in the Bush Administration's policy is that of
economic punishment. Bush planned to stop the progress of oil shipments and construction on the two
light water reactors. Many clear differences can be seen between Clinton's policy and Bush's policy
towards North Korea. Clinton's was more of a reward path, enticing the North Korea to comply with
the United States by offering economic rewards. Bush, on the other hand, is attempting to bully the
North Korea into complying with economic threats. Another difference that we see between the two
administrations is the use of diplomacy.5
The Effects of Those Policies:
It was the Clinton’s administration success to sign "Agreed Framework" with North Korea On
October 12, 1994. By this the United States and North Korea agreed to freeze its plutonium production
program in exchange for fuel oil, economic cooperation, and the construction of two modern light-
water nuclear power plants. Pyongyang carefully observed these provisions until the Bush
administration stopped the oil shipments in December 2002.
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4. The Bush administration believes that the United States should adopt a hawkish policy and
should penalize North Korea's rogue behavior. In contrast, the Clinton administration did not seem to
view North Korea as an irrational revisionist state, despite its rogue behavior, but felt that North Korea
could be understood through the security dilemma. Thus, engagement with negotiation often was the
best policy for the North Korean threat.6
As a result of Bush administration policies, On September 19, 2005, Six-party talks ( China,
North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States) resulted in an agreement where North
Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons program for economic cooperation and assistance,
repeating its right to "peaceful uses of nuclear energy," while the U.S. recognized North Korea's
sovereignty and stated that it had no intention to attack North Korea. 7
May be as a result of these policies, North Korea didn’t produce any nuclear weapons in Bill
Clinton’s eight years of office, while they produced about six in the first 4 years of President’s Bush
office.8
What would new administrations do to deal with problem of N. Korea’s nuclear weapons?
 New administrations, contrary to Clinton and Bush Administrations, should start out with an
effective policy towards North Korea.
 They should provide a security guarantee and better relations to deal with problem of
N.Korea’s nuclear weapons. Because North Korea aims to ease its security dilemma and
maintain its regime survival, to dismiss North Korea's security dilemma is to miss the cause of
its actions.
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5.  The policy of isolating North Korea to force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programs is not
effective policy. New administrations should negotiate one-on-one talks with North Korea not
only on nuclear weapons issue but also on economic and social issues.
 While none of the parties desire a North Korea with nuclear weapons, South Korea and Japan
are very concerned about North Korean counterstrikes in case of military action against North
Korea. China and South Korea are also very worried about the economic and social
consequences should this situation cause the North Korean government to collapse. So Six-
party talks will be effective policy to solve North Korea problem.
 Even though Bush Administration named North Korea as part of an "Axis of Evil" following
the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, New administrations should not plan any urgent
military action against North Korea.
1
North Korea (11/05) http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm#political
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.-North_Korea_relations, "U.S.-North Korea relations - Wikipedia"
3
http://people.umass.edu/mray/essays/northkorea.html, "Comparison of Bush and Clinton Foreign Policy
towards North Korea."
4
http://people.umass.edu/mray/essays/northkorea.html, "Comparison of Bush and Clinton Foreign Policy
towards North Korea."
5
Ibid
6
Jihwan Hwang, “Realism and U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea: the Clinton and Bush
administrations in comparative perspective” World Affairs, Summer, 2004
7
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
8
Nicholas D.Kristof, “N.Korea, 6, And Bush, 0,” The New York Times, April 26, 2005 pg.A.19
4