A nuclear-free North Korea requires U.S.-China cooperation

OPINION:

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Six-Party Talks, established in 2003 to resolve the nuclear issue with North Korea. It’s an auspicious time for China, the host of the talks, to put tension with the U.S. aside and encourage North Korea to return to negotiations.

Ideally, the subject of North Korea will be discussed when President Biden meets with President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco later this month.

Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the ensuing war there, the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the war in Gaza have diverted attention away from North Korea. North Korea is reportedly providing Russia with artillery shells and rockets for its war in Ukraine, and Hamas is reportedly using North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenades in its war with Israel.

Hamas, a proxy of Iran, receives training, funding, and other support from Iran for its terrorist activities. North Korea continues to have a close relationship with Iran, having provided Tehran with rockets, missiles and weapons over the years in return for cash for its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been transparent in his relatively recent embrace of Russia, with his visit to Russia for meetings with Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to Pyongyang for meetings with Mr. Kim.

The warming of Russian-North Korean relations comes as North Korea has launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles this year, the latest in July — a solid fuel missile with a range of 15,000 kilometers (over 9,300 miles), capable of targeting the entire U.S. What followed was Mr. Kim enshrining nuclear weapons in North Korea’s Constitution and last year proclaiming a “first use” policy for nuclear weapons — if there is an imminent or perceived to be an imminent threat to the North’s leadership or its command and control infrastructure.

Since the failed Hanoi Summit in 2019, North Korea has eschewed any talks with the U.S. or South Korea while building more nuclear weapons and launching more sophisticated ballistic missiles, including hypersonic and cruise missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik recently expressed concern that North Korea could launch a surprise attack on South Korea akin to the attack on Israel by Hamas. Mr. Shin said South Korea would have to enhance its surveillance of North Korea and suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement — with buffer zones along sea and land boundaries and no-fly zones — in order to resume surveillance of an unpredictable North Korea.

Any intentional or accidental flare-up on the Korean Peninsula could escalate quickly, with the potential to destabilize all of Northeast Asia. And given the current alignment of North Korea with a revanchist Russia and Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, chances are that North Korea may feel emboldened to challenge South Korea and, as it did in March 2010 with the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, killing 46 seamen, perpetrate another act of aggression against the South.

In early 2003, when North Korea quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and started to produce plutonium at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor for nuclear weapons, former Secretary of State Colin Powell contacted his Chinese counterpart and got China to persuade North Korea to enter the Six-Party Talks with the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Russia and the host of the talks, China.

Wang Yi, China’s current foreign minister and a Politburo member, hosted the talks. On Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea agreed to dismantle all nuclear weapons and facilities in return for security assurances, economic development assistance and a path to normal relations with the U.S., South Korea and Japan.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco Nov. 11-17, during which Mr. Biden will meet with Mr. Xi, will be an opportune time for the two leaders to show the world that the U.S. and China can again cooperate on subjects as important as North Korea. Both want North Korea to denuclearize, completely and verifiably, in return for security assurances and other deliverables.

Progress with China on the issue of North Korea, on the 20th anniversary of the Six-Party Talks, should be high on the list of the president’s priorities.

• Joseph R. DeTrani served as special envoy for the Six-Party Talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006 and as director of the National Counterproliferation Center. The views expressed here are the author’s and not those of any government agency or department.