[INTERVIEW] 'US has room for more sanctions against North Korea'
2024-09-23 14:24:30 [新闻中心] 来源:Anhui News
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the foundation in Washington, D.C., Nov. 16. / Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation |
By Kim Hyo-jin
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The U.S. government still has room to impose tougher unilateral sanctions against North Korea, says a U.S. North Korea specialist.
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, said in an interview with The Korea Times, Nov. 16, that the Donald Trump administration should increase sanctions against Pyongyang to a higher level, but it is not doing so.
"Up until last year, the U.S. sanctioned more on Zimbabwe and Sudan entities than we had on North Korea," he said, noting it was only last year that the level of sanctions against Pyongyang moved to fourth from ninth of all sanctioned foreign countries.
"If you talk to people in the government who both currently and in the past worked on sanctions, they'd tell you for years we've had a list in the drawers of Chinese and other nations' entities that we could sanction today but we have been prevented from doing so by senior policymakers."
He pointed out such inaction stemmed from concerns it could create a crisis or undermine what the administration perceived as Chinese assistance on North Korea and other issues.
"That pulling U.S. punches on enforcing its laws did not lead to greater North Korean commitment to its denuclearization commitments or Chinese enforcement of required sanctions shows the naivety of such an approach," he said.
He expected the U.S. administration's re-designation of the North as a terrorism sponsor will add to the international effort to increase the country's diplomatic and economic isolation.
Downplaying skeptics of the decision who say it won't resolve the nuclear issue or it could trigger a harsh regime response, he said, "It is only a matter of time before Pyongyang conducts more nuclear and missile tests to complete development of its programs and demonstrate its ability to threaten the U.S. and its allies with nuclear weapons."
"Much-deserved global attention on North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons must not cause us to lose sight of its terrorist activity and gross violations of human rights."
Klingner assessed that the Trump administration has a formulated North Korea policy now, dismissing lingering questions whether it is still left bewildered on the nuclear issue.
Noting he gets a sense of coherent policy now when talking to government officials, he listed five components: the need for pressure, reversing budget cuts to the defense department, strengthening missile defense, willingness for diplomats to meet the North's counterparts, and no negotiations as long as the North refuses to abide by denuclearization.
"I think those components are in place but I don't think the Trump administration has really done a good job of messaging or articulating that," he said.
He characterized Trump's speech at the South Korean National Assembly, saying, even though he did a good job in discussing North Korea's human rights violations, he did not articulate policy as clearly as many security specialists would have liked.
On the possibility of a U.S. pre-emptive attack against North Korea, he said there is a "low probability but it's not zero."
He admitted he had also been confused as to its feasibility as every time he got a different sense by talking to different government officials, but he said recent comments from the administration are less indicative of a preventive attack.
"It seemed the comment about the U.S.'s attack on North Korea was in the context of a response to a North Korean attack," he said. "So I'm less concerned about a preventive attack than I was a few months ago."
Asked about Washington's take on the Moon Jae-in government's security policy, Klingner said the Trump government and experts feel "comfortable" with Moon for his seeking parallel policies to the U.S.'s in terms of North Korea.
Klingner said there were a lot of concerns at first on Moon's ideological orientation considering he was chief of staff of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, but in the past couple of months of his presidency, such suspicion has much been eased.
"He reversed position on a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, acknowledged that the Gaeseong Industrial Complex would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and stressed it is not the time for dialogue but for pressure," he said. "I found it surprising that he moved to the center."
But he still viewed Moon's smooth coordination with Trump as conditional as North Korea has refused engagement with the South.
"North Korea's action prevented Moon from engaging with North Korea to the degree that perhaps he wants to," he said. "We do still have concerns as to will he move to the left if North Korea sort of does a charm offensive as they use to do under Kim Jong-il and haven't done under Kim Jong-un."
Klingner advised Seoul to remove doubt on its position on an additional THAAD battery, referring to the so-called "three-nos" that Moon reportedly presented to Beijing.
"THAAD deployment should be an alliance decision that shouldn't be something that South Korea announces particularly after meeting with China," he said.
"There should not be any sense in Beijing we may not do that, we may not protect South Korean and American lives because of some agreement with Beijing."
(责任编辑:关于我们)
推荐文章
-
Listeners encouraged to go wild with Le Sserafim's 4th EP
K-pop girl group Le Sserafim performs "Crazy," the title track of its fourth EP of the same name, du ...[详细] -
闈掑矝姹借溅鍙e哺杩涘嚭鍙f暣澶囩淮淇湇鍔¢」鐩绾﹁惤鍦癬涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
銆€銆€杩戞棩锛岄潚宀涘墠婀句繚绋庢腐鍖洪潚宀涘浗闄呮苯杞﹀彛宀哥鐞嗘湁闄愬叕鍙镐笌浜よ繍闆嗗洟鏈夐檺鍏徃绛捐鎴樼暐鍚堜綔鍗忚锛屾爣蹇楃潃鍙屾柟鑱旀墜鎵撻€犵殑浜よ繍鑷锤(闈掑矝)姹借溅鏈嶅 ...[详细] -
树绿了、草青了、花开了春天既是踏青赏花的好时节也是让孩子爱上学习、获取新知的好时机!眼看又要放假啦!小长假去哪儿玩?带“小神兽们”来探秘科学世界吧!海信科学探索中心#科学版迪士 ...[详细]
-
“我自愿加入中华全国总工会,遵守工会章程,执行工会决议,积极参加工会活动,为全面建成小康社会、把我国建设成为富强民主文明和谐美丽的社会主义现代化强国、实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦而奋斗!& ...[详细]
-
US to oppose North Korean worker dispatch to occupied Ukrainian territory: State Dept.
Spokeperson for the State Department Matthew Miller speaks during a press briefing in Washington, D. ...[详细] -
3月17日下午,青岛市国资委举行2020年春季重点招商项目第二轮网上签约活动。其中,青岛公交集团与深圳市海梁科技有限公司、深圳市都市数据技术有限公司签订三方合作协议,共同开启城市智慧交通合作项目,打造 ...[详细]
-
5月已至,为重新刺激国民经济消费,唤醒民众对美好生活记忆,国内掀起了一场全民直播热潮,带货直播、旅游直播等多种直播形式应接不暇……然而鲜有人知的是,在这场全民狂欢直播的背后 ...[详细]
-
“这里面是3万多元,还有存折、身份证、住院押金条,这可是我母亲的救命钱啊!”2月27日下午,客户李先生急匆匆地跑进工商银行青岛洛阳路支行,他的母亲突发疾病送进医院抢救,他到银行 ...[详细]
-
A Barbie flip phone is here from HMD
This summer was Brat summer. We're approaching demure fall, which may transition into a season with ...[详细] -
市委党史研究室市地方志编纂中心)坚持先学一步学深一层确保全会精神落地落实本报讯近日,市委党史研究室市地方志编纂中心)召开室务会扩大)会议,传达学习党的十九届六中全会和市委常委会第217次扩大)会议精神 ...[详细]
热点阅读