Amid growing concern that North Korea may be preparing to launch a ballistic missile at Hawaii, congressmen and foreign policy experts met last Thursday for a hearing to chart the future of U.S.-North Korea relations. Relations between the U.S. and communist North Korea have been strained since U.S.-led forces invaded the Korean Peninsula in 1950.
Since the 1990s, relations have floundered primarily over the issue of uranium enrichment. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 and tested its first nuclear weapon in 2006.
In the last month, U.S.-North Korea relations reached their lowest point in decades. In May, North Korea tested its second nuclear weapon, and last week, the regime sentenced American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling to 12 years in prison for allegedly intruding on North Korean territory illegally. The sentences drew international outrage and reinforced the perception that the North Korean regime has grown dangerously unpredictable.
“We are faced with an extraordinary dilemma,” Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., said “There is no limit to what a government will do when it ceases to care about its people.”
While the attendees at the hearing agreed that North Korea poses a threat to global stability, they disagreed on how best to deal with the rogue state.
According to Scott, convincing China, which has long provided North Korea with aid and political cover, to cooperate with American efforts to contain North Korea is crucial to maintaining peace in Northeast Asia.
“China is [North Korea’s] benefactor,” Scott said. “China needs to see North Korea as a threat. They hold the trump cards.”
However, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., argued that U.S. efforts should focus on limiting the North Korean regime’s access to financing.
“Why not cut off their access to currency — to the money?” Royce said.
Scott said that the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea reminded him of the relationship between Charlie Brown and Lucy, two characters in Charles Schultz’s classic “Peanuts” comic strip. In “Peanuts,” Lucy teases Charlie Brown by repeatedly holding a football on the ground for him to kick and then moving the ball just as he is about to kick it, causing him to fall on his rear end.
“We [Americans] are Charlie Brown,” Scott said. “How many times do we have to fall on our rear end?”
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