Panelists Discuss U.S., North Korea Relations

American and Korean leaders emphasized during a panel discussion yesterday that effective negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea depend on those countries' cooperation.

The panel, held at the Harvard Faculty Club and titled "U.S.-North Korea Relations: Prospects for Engagement," centered on capitalism, politics and nuclear technology.

Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General James F. Grant, who once directed intelligence operations in Korea, began the discussion by saying North Korea used its nuclear technology to gain power.

"Politically, obviously, they are very weak," Grant said. "They're trying to rebuild [their] political clout with nuclear weapons."

Grant said North Korea would not give up nuclear power in negotiations with other countries.

He pointed to military might as another route through which North Korea has attempted to establish international authority.

"The military is an indispensable backdrop," Grant said. "It allows them to create crises; it gives them status."

Several of the panelists recently visited North and South Korea. Han S. Park, director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of Georgia, said he had visited North Korea 28 times since 1990.

"I'm basically here to tell you more about North Korea the way it is," Park said.

Park spoke about misconceptions concerning the North Korean mentality and people.

"People say North Korea is an anomaly," Park said. "I don't think so. North Korea is quite a rational system, in the interest of the country, the system and the regime."

He said it was important to view the world from North Korea's standpoint.

"You don't have to agree to see empathetically," Park said.

Park said that many North Korean leaders feel strongly about upholding socialism and "protect[ing] their system from capitalist consumption."

"North Korea feels very strongly that it's surrounded by hostile, evil forces," he said--including South Korea, the U.S. and the People's Republic of China.

Park spoke briefly on the issue of sending food to North Korea and the concern that it would directly feed the military rather than the starving citizens.

"In North Korea, everyone is army personnel. You see uniformed people all over," Park said. "If you are hesitant to provide for that concern, don't provide; if you think soldiers are also human beings, then you can send."

Strategies for working with North Korea while encouraging capitalist ideas were discussed by Mitchell B. Reiss, assistant executive director and senior policy advisor of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).

"Never get angry, except on purpose," Reiss advised. "It's important for negotiation to persevere in treating North Korea with respect and dignity."

Reiss agreed with Park about the importance of empathy.

"North Korea has a great deal of fear and mistrust to the outside world," Reiss said. "What this means is North Korea has a better idea of what it doesn't want to achieve than what it does."

Donald P. Gregg, president and chair of the New York based Korea Society, brought a very recent political perspective to the table. He spoke with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Seoul last week.

"I think that the attitude and the mood in Washington today is not conducive [towards improving North Korean relations]," Gregg said. "Republicans are acting in an extraordinarily partisan way."

Gregg said many Republicans are watching President Clinton closely, looking for any aid towards North Korea or proposals to lift sanctions.

"I wish I could say something more positive, but I feel the next two years up to the election are a very dangerous time with regards to North Korea," Gregg said.

Edward J. Baker, associate director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, said negotiations depended on both countries.

"I would like to see the North Korean side become more sophisticated as to how to deal with us while we become more sophisticated as how to deal with them," he said.

The panel was sponsored by the Korea Society, the Korea Institute and the Harvard-Radcliffe Korean Association.