Denuclearizing North Korea

North Korea first signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985 and had subsequently negotiated periodically with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the UN body responsible for monitoring compliance with the agreement – over admitting international inspectors to verify that nuclear weapons development was not taking place anywhere on its territory. Many analysts have been critical of President Clinton’s two immediate predecessors for not doing more to engage the North Korean government during this time, thus effectively deferring the question of compliance with its NPT obligations to his administration. ¹ Unsurprisingly, such criticism has been contested by former officials who worked on North Korean nuclear issues for one or more of the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. ² It is not necessary to enter this controversy in detail here. What can safely be said is that, whilst a possible future North Korean nuclear weapons programme had been an intermittent concern, it did not become a fixed priority for US foreign and security policy during the years before Clinton took office.