A Win-Win Strategy to Transform North Korea
Speaker: Jiang, M. (Creighton University)
Date: 9 January 2019
Speaker Session Preview
SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Maorong Jiang (Creighton University) as a part of its SMA STRATCOM Academic Alliance Speaker Series. Dr. Jiang elaborated on his contributions to the NSI Virtual Think Tank (ViTTa®) report entitled “Is There a Win-Win Scenario for the Key Actors Concerned with the DPRK?”, in which he sought to “provide both a realistic and an optimistic projection to achieve the goal of approaching a win-win scenario for all of the key actors (North Korea, South Korea, Japan, US, China, and Russia).” He argued that the US should acknowledge North Korea’s ability to maintain a carefully-monitored nuclear program and accept that the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is highly unlikely. He stated that the US should focus its efforts on stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, which would consequently draw North Korea back into the international community and contain Russia’s and China’s regional influence. Dr. Jiang explained that in order for North Korea’s relations with other key actors to be normalized and for stability to be achieved, North Korea would need to “commit to abiding by international norms and conventions adhered to by other nuclear states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and to the verifiable abandonment of its long-range missile program.” If North Korea cannot adhere to these conditions, Dr. Jiang stated that the US should reject North Korea’s nuclear program and “re-implement the strongest of international sanctions.” He also explained how allowing a carefully limited North Korean nuclear program could benefit each of the key regional actors and offered a potential strategic plan for US policymakers’ consideration. To conclude his presentation, Dr. Jiang explained what short-term, medium-term, and long-term projections for US strategies could look like.
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