Strategies to Open Talks with North Korea

Three faculty members from Maxwell — Frederick Carriere, Louis Kriesberg and Stuart Thorson — wrote an article for Foreign Policy in Focus entitled, “It’s Time to Drop Preconditions and Re-Open Talks with North Korea.” As the title states, they argue for communication between the United States and North Korea amidst continuous threats of nuclear war.

“A more creative and plausible strategy would be to reassure North Korea that its existence would not be threatened if it ceased to rely on nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. In reality, neither the neighboring governments nor the U.S. government should want a sudden collapse of North Korea. That would result in the potential loss of control over nuclear weapons, factional fighting or even civil war within North Korea, massive refugee flows, and huge economic costs for South Korea.”