[COLUMN] No concessions in inspecting North Korean nuclear weapons

[Yonhap Photo]

(This column was contributed by Lee Jae-ho, a politics professor at Dongshin University.)

SEOUL -- If North Korea, without nuclear weapons, normalizes relations with the United States, diplomatic relations with Japan will be a matter of time. Northeast Asia may see an end to 70 years of confrontation through cross-approval by four superpowers. The new era will be more stable and peaceful than at least now.

North and South Korea will compete for the quality of life instead of armament, and the door to the continent will open wide. Internally, the structure of the old system that has been parasitic to inter-Korean hostile symbiosis will be dismantled. The cold war perception and culture among us that grew up under barrack-nation heteronomy and coercion will disappear.

Change, however, is accompanied by anxiety and pain. The alliance between South Korean and the United States will be a problem. If North Korea declares an end to war and establishes a peace treaty, the alliance will be weakened. The alliance has been the backbone of South Korea's unprecedented economic achievement. It was possible because we relied on security and shared the values of liberal democracy and market economy. A change in such an alliance will be a big challenge.

There is already a lot of discussion about the status of U.S. troops. Trump said the North-U.S. summit could be held twice, three times in the future. The alliance will be affected little by little. Concerns about 'Korea Passing' will also grow. There is also the possibility that this will come to a reality.

It is important for Trump, who faces mid-term elections in November and the presidential election in 2020, to show voters the removal of nuclear warheads and especially ICBMs capable of hitting the US mainland. It means performance is needed. The number of nuclear warheads to be removed may not matter. We are frustrated because there is no way to know whether all nuclear warheads possessed by the North or just part of them will be removed. It has been thought that the removal of nuclear warheads is Trump's decisive will to denuclearize, but it is rather a trap for us.

The power of nuclear weapons comes from 'strategic ambiguity'. Even if the US has collected all of the nuclear warheads, we can not be sure of that, so we still have to prepare for the existence of North Korean nuclear weapons.

If you do not want to fall into this trap, there is nothing but outside inspection. North Korea's nuclear facilities should be randomly selected and checked unconditionally. Of course, North Korea cannot easily respond. After a joint declaration for denuclearization came into force in 1992, the two Koreas had held nuclear commission meetings 13 times, but North Korea did not yield as long as inspections are concerned. Later, the North withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to avoid compulsory inspections. The declaration was finally scrapped.

The North's chief delegate at that time was Kim Young-chul who came back now as North Korea's chief delegate. Negotiations will not be smooth because he has been working on the agenda. We must strongly push the United States to not yield on matters related to inspections. If the North and the US become new friends and the ROK-US alliance is shaken, and even inspections are not secured, we will be in trouble.

Now it is time to focus on details. At least we should be able to see when we want to see what we want to see.

Lim Chang-won cwlim34@ajunews.com

[COLUMN] No concessions in inspecting North Korean nuclear weapons

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