North Korea Makes Waves

North Korea Makes Waves

North Korea's "115-foot Taepodong-2 missile stands ready to take off from Musudan-Ri, a remote village on the northeast coast of North Korea, after engineers apparently completed loading liquid fuel into its rocket boosters," shouted newspapers on Monday, also reporting that "Tensions over North Korea's missile program escalated sharply...as Japan, Australia and New Zealand joined Washington" in warning North Korea to not test its missile. The U.S. responded by pulling out the still-not-working missile defense system. American Progress Senior Vice President Joe Cirincione notes, "The Bush administration has responded to a North Korean missile that doesn't work by activating an anti-missile system that doesn't work." North Korea's military capabilities (PDF) must be taken seriously. But responding to one political stunt with another will not advance America's national security. We need a real policy to deal with this very real threat.

• North Korea’s latest posturing is a threatening move that must be dealt with through aggressive diplomacy. According to U.S. officials, North Korea will test fire a Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile as early as this weekend. This missile could potentially hit the United States, and as such, the U.S. needs to treat this threat seriously. The Center for Defense Information's (CDI) Victoria Samson also believes that North Korea is trying to press for direct talks with the United States, which the Bush administration has resisted over five years and rejected again this week. In the short term, the United States must work with allies and regional partners to forcefully convince North Korea to forego its provocative test.
  
  
• In response, the Bush administration used its own political ploy, readying the still untested missile defense system. However, this appears to be nothing more than a show. Even government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have rejected using the missile defense system if North Korea launches its missile, afraid of risking an embarrassing failure. The Pentagon's Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system "hasn't successfully intercepted a missile since October of 2002. Five of its last ten flight tests, it flunked.” In addition, troubling security flaws continue to plague the U.S. missile defense system.
  
  
• The real problem is that the Bush administration has no North Korea policy. For five years, the Bush administration has been paralyzed over North Korea. Hardliners such as Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and UN ambassador John Bolton have rejected serious engagement in favor of a confrontational approach that has backfired. Over that time, North Korea has withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, reprocessed fissionable material, increased its nuclear arsenal and is now on the verge of restarting missile testing. While the United States should in no way reward North Korea’s irresponsible and provocative actions, if successful in forcing North Korea to reverse course, the Bush administration must be prepared to change its approach and be willing to engage in meaningful direct dialogue with North Korea within the existing Six-Party framework.