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UN Undersecretary for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman is greeted upon his arrival at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang by a member of the North Korean Foreign Ministry on Dec. 5. (AFP/Yonhap News)
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The analysis could give added weight to a push for a diplomatic solution to NK nuclear issue
The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 5 that US intelligence agencies and military officials regard North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “rational actor” and that this view is the basis for the US’s approach to North Korea. This shows that the administration of US President Donald Trump is leaning toward a diplomatic approach, at least internally, despite the fact that figures in and around the US government have repeatedly mentioned military options following North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Nov. 29. Quoting multiple officials, the Wall Street Journal said that two important ways of thinking about North Korea have taken shape, based on the conclusion that Kim Jong-un is a rational actor reached by the main organizations in charge of US national security. The first view is that Kim is fully aware that any attack on the US or its allies would pose a threat to North Korea’s security and to his own grip on power. The second is that diplomacy can be used to change Kim’s actions and to reduce the threat of war. Noting that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster had said during a forum on Dec. 2 that current American efforts depend upon economic and diplomatic action against North Korea, military officials said that such measures presuppose the belief that Kim is rational. As for North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles, these officials focused on the fact that Kim has always avoided the more dangerous actions available to him. He did not do anything concrete during his “war of words” with US President Donald Trump, and North Korea also refrained from doing anything to raise tensions during Trump’s trip to Asia, when three aircraft carriers were deployed in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula. But officials in the US military and intelligence agencies said that regarding Kim as rational does not mean he is not cruel or provocative. They still regard Kim as being immature and overconfident, exemplified by the fact that has ordered the killing of relatives, including his uncle Jang Song-taek and half brother Kim Jong-nam. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
