Bi-Multilateral Approaches to Defusing Nuclear Crisis

The “bi-multilateral,” approach to diplomacy toward North Korea, which the Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear standoff epitomize, is neither right nor wrong as a peace strategy. During the first act of the North Korean nuclear standoff in 1992–1994, the United States and the DPRK chose to defuse the nuclear crisis via the direct, face-to-face, talks in Geneva through the bilateral channel of diplo-macy. ¹ During the second act of the current nuclear standoff, which began in October 2002, the United States chose to confront the DPRK within a multilateral forum of Six-Party Talks involving other regional powers: South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia.