Siegfried Hecker: What the U.S. should do about North Korea

Siegfried Hecker: What the U.S. should do about North Korea

DMZ soldiers4x6 A North Korean soldier looks south, as a South Korean soldier (front) stands guard, at the truce village of Panmunjom in the DMZ. December 8, 2010. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
CISAC scholars made international news in November after North Korean scientists revealed to them that they had started construction on a small light-water reactor and completed a new uranium enrichment facility. The revelation dramatically changes the security calculus in Northeast Asia. In a Foreign Affairs article, Siegfried S. Hecker argues that denuclearization remains the goal. But that will take time. Now Washington should pursue a policy that begins with what he calls "the three no's -- no more bombs, no better bombs, and no exports -- in return for one yes: Washington's willingness to seriously address North Korea's fundamental insecurity." In a piece in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Hecker said "this approach may just be enough to get Beijing to take a much more aggressive stance to help shut down Pyongyang's nuclear import and export networks."