NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE

NORTH KOREA: AN ARGUMENT TO JUMPSTART THE ECONOMIC ENGINE

LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOHN D. BIRD II, USAF NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE CLASS OF 2007

COURSE 6300, SEMINAR K NON-MILITARY ELEMENTS OF STATECRAFT FACULTY SEMINAR LEADER: AMBASSADOR JAMES B. FOLEY FACULTY ADVISOR: COLONEL THOMAS GRIFFITH, USAF 29 NOVEMBER 2006

Bird 1 On October 8, 2005, North Korea detonated a nuclear device, and forever changed the global political landscape. Despite the best efforts of the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia, the isolationist regime was not deterred from joining the elite nuclear club.1 Now faced with the prospect of North Korean nuclear proliferation, the world is undoubtedly a more dangerous place to live in. Over the last 50 years, virtually all the instruments of national power have been brought to bear in an effort to solve the security dilemma presented by the North Korean regime. The detonation on October 8th suggests these previous strategies were not nearly effective enough. A nuclear armed North Korea presents a grave danger that should force us to reexamine our policy. This paper focuses on the economic instrument, examines how it has been utilized over the last 15 years in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, and offers some thoughts on a desired endstate of North Korean economic integration. The Context--the Fall of Communism The fall of the Berlin wall was a watershed event in man’s political, social, and economic evolution. For almost five decades, two superpowers squared off in relative peace under the frightening specter of mutually assured destruction. The policy of the United States was containment. If the US could only hold the Soviet Union at bay long enough, the Soviets would crumble from within. The Cold War was
David E. Sanger, “North Koreans Say They Tested Nuclear Device,” New York