The topic this time is “North Korea”.
I would like tentatively to share the insights of Mr. Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Iran, Turkey, and the broader Middle East, and he is a former Pentagon official.
His theme is:
North Korea shows how the Iranian nuclear deal will fail.
Nuclear negotiations with North Korea have shown us that limited nuclear deals allow the proliferator the time and space to develop nuclear weapons.
Over thirty years ago, North and South Korea signed a “Denuclearization” declaration forswearing plutonium reprocessing, uranium enrichment, and the development, testing, or possession of nuclear weapons.
To reach an agreement, the United States removed its own nuclear missiles from South Korea and canceled its annual military exercises.
Secretary of State James Baker patted himself on his back. “American diplomacy [was] directly responsible for an end to six years of intransigence by the North.”
The deal assuaged Washington but did not derail Pyongyang’s ambitions.
Fourteen years later, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test.
It was not the last time an American president would claim that a limited nuclear deal ended a proliferators’ nuclear desire.
