Ex-U.S. arms control official slams North Korea talks shift
· UPIApril 30 (Asia Today) -- A former senior U.S. arms control official on Tuesday rejected calls to shift policy from denuclearization to arms control or nonproliferation negotiations with North Korea, calling the approach "irrelevant" and warning it would provide critical support to Pyongyang.
Robert Joseph said such proposals effectively assume recognition of North Korea as a nuclear weapons state and would grant the regime sanctions relief, resources and international legitimacy.
He made the remarks at a forum marking North Korea Freedom Week held at a U.S. House office building in Washington.
Joseph calls arms control talks 'irrelevant'
Asked about arguments by some U.S. experts that Washington should shift from denuclearization to arms control or nonproliferation talks with North Korea, Joseph responded, "Frankly, it is irrelevant."
He said the approach is based on an assumption that North Korea would be accepted as a nuclear state, applying a framework similar to Cold War-era arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union.
"That assumption underlies the entire approach," he said. "And if that is accepted, it means applying the same model used in U.S.-Soviet arms control talks."
Joseph emphasized that North Korea's regime "imprisons, tortures and kills its own people" and will never give up its nuclear weapons.
He pointed to the structural nature of the regime, arguing that North Korea's political system and nuclear arsenal are inseparable. A recent policy report chaired by Joseph and published by the National Institute for Public Policy concluded that efforts to separate the nuclear issue from the regime's nature have been a core reason for three decades of failed denuclearization diplomacy.
Joseph says talks would give North Korea 'lifelines'
Joseph said entering negotiations itself would provide North Korea with what he described as three "lifelines": sanctions relief, material resources and international legitimacy.
"Once you enter negotiations, you inevitably provide sanctions relief, resources and legitimacy," he said.
He warned that even if an agreement appears plausible - such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal reached under former President Barack Obama - North Korea would not comply, meaning there would be no real payoff.
"Negotiations with a regime that signs agreements and does not honor them do not lead to denuclearization," he said. "They instead contribute to advancing its nuclear capabilities."
Joseph argued that rather than inducing nuclear disarmament, negotiations could strengthen regime survival by supplying resources and legitimacy.
Joseph warns of violations, lack of verification and prolonged stalemate
Joseph dismissed the feasibility of arms control talks by citing North Korea's history of violating agreements and the lack of credible verification mechanisms.
He said North Korea has failed to meet obligations under every major agreement it has signed, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency, inter-Korean denuclearization agreements and the 1994 Agreed Framework.
"There is no level of verification that can provide confidence in compliance with this regime," he said.
Joseph warned that if arms control negotiations were pursued, they could lead to decades of negotiations, disputes over violations and prolonged stalemate, while North Korea continues to expand its nuclear capabilities.
He cited estimates from the RAND Corporation that North Korea could possess more than 200 nuclear weapons by 2027, posing direct threats to the region and the U.S. mainland.
Joseph also compared the continued reliance on denuclearization diplomacy without exploring alternative approaches to a "failure of imagination," echoing critiques made of U.S. intelligence prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Debate with Victor Cha highlights diverging strategies
Joseph's position contrasts with that of Victor Cha, who has argued for a more pragmatic approach focused on managing risks.
Cha has suggested that South Korea should suspend its preemptive strike system and instead focus on "denial-based deterrence," including high-density missile defense and regular deployment of nuclear-capable aircraft and submarines.
He has also argued that North Korea has long sought arms control talks with the United States and that some officials within the administration have avoided discussing the issue publicly.
While Cha supports maintaining denuclearization as a long-term goal, he has called for recognizing current realities and pursuing arms control or nonproliferation negotiations to manage the threat.
The contrast underscores a broader debate over whether to prioritize threat management or regime transformation in North Korea policy.
Joseph calls for integrating human rights and pursuing unification
Joseph instead argued that human rights must be integrated into security strategy, saying past denuclearization efforts failed in part because human rights were excluded from negotiations.
He recalled that during earlier talks, human rights officials were effectively kept out of the negotiating room.
"We thought we could address human rights after achieving denuclearization," he said. "But by separating the two, we undermined the entire strategy."
A policy report by a working group on a "free and unified Korea," led by Joseph, argued that unification is not an alternative to denuclearization but its completion. It said that without resolving the structural division of the Korean Peninsula, neither the nuclear threat nor human rights issues can be fundamentally addressed.
The report presented seven recommendations for U.S. and South Korean policymakers, including formally adopting unification as a strategic objective, integrating human rights into security policy, establishing joint implementation frameworks for weapons of mass destruction, humanitarian and economic issues, supporting civil society initiatives led by South Korea, countering misconceptions about unification through public diplomacy, engaging regional stakeholders including China and preparing international financial mechanisms for reconstruction.
Joseph said integrating human rights into security strategy offers a practical path toward achieving denuclearization.
-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260430010009794