While the international community tried to resolve North Korea’s nuclear crisis, it has remained an ongoing challenge. North Korea’s nuclear crisis is a significant and impending task for the international community, in terms of enhancing security on not only the Korean peninsula but also in Northeast Asia while simultaneously achieving consistent economic development in that region. The crisis has become even more serious once the North withdrew from the Six Party Talks in 2009 and the North attacked the South, violating the Armistice Agreement for the Korean Peninsula. This book introduces three cases of disarmament: South Africa, Libya and Ukraine. Based upon the case studies, the book states how the three cases can be applied to the case of North Korea.
This book is summarized as follows. In the first chapter, the authors provide an overview of this study; including the study’s background, purpose, range, and types of methodologies adopted. In the second chapter, the authors analyze reasons why and how South Africa, Libya and Ukraine developed nuclear weapons. In the third chapter, reasons for the three countries deciding to give up nuclear weapons and how they gave them up are analyzed. In the fourth chapter, types of efforts made by the international community in order to resolve the nuclear problem involving the above three countries are introduced and the effectiveness of those international efforts are assessed. In the fifth chapter, correlation between the withdrawal of economic sanctions levied upon the three countries and their economic prosperity are analyzed. In the sixth chapter, authors summarize lessons from the three case studies and their implications for North Korea.
In conclusion, economic assistance could be a significant factor in the development of meaningful relations between the international community and North Korea, but it does not constitute the key factor in resolving its nuclear crises. One of the outstanding reasons why the North tried to develop and retain nuclear weapons stem from their intention to use those weapons as a means for survival, and to maintain the Kim Jung-Il regime in particular. Unless North Korea’s fundamental concern remains unresolved, the crises will continue. This means that the strategy to provide the North with ‘carrots’will not likely induce North Korea's disarmament. Therefore, the international community should engage in special efforts to resolve the crises in a more practical manner, such as by helping North Korea create a more friendly international environment and assimilate itself to the international community, but economic sanctions upon North Korea should be maintained in the meanwhile to remind everyone of the danger that nuclear weapons poses, maintain the will for enforcement of those sanctions among the international community, and to prepare responses for the various scenarios in which the North gives up nuclear weapons.