I nTERnATIOnAL
T
he Korean nuclear issue is the most complicated and uncer-
tain factor for Northeast Asian security. It has now become
the focus of attention in the Asia Pacific and even the world
at large.
F u Y i n g , Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
National People’s Congress and Chairperson of the Academic Com-
mittee of the National Institute of Global Strategy at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, offered her perspectives on the thorny
issue in an article published on Brookings.edu on April 12, 2017, and a
Chinese version of the full article was also published on ChinaReport’s
sister publication China Newsweek (Vol 803).
Fu Ying previously served as China’s vice minister of foreign affairs.
S he has also served as ambassador to the Philippines, Australia and
the United Kingdom. From 2000 to 2003, she was director-general
of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Asian Affairs, and in that
role she was involved in the multilateral talks that took place over the
Korean nuclear issue.
In the article, Fu Ying gave a detailed account of the history of the
Korean nuclear issue. As the Chinese saying goes, “He who tied the
bell should be the one who unties it.” To open the rusty lock of the
Korean nuclear issue, we should look for the right key, she said. Below
follow further excerpts from the article.Origin of the Korean Nuclear Crisis
The origin of the Korean nuclear issue can be traced back to the
settlement of the Korean War – a war which in a legal sense has not
yet ended, said Fu Ying. After the signing of the Korean Armistice
Agreement on July 27, 1953, the Korean Peninsula remained divided
along the 38th parallel north between the ROK (Republic of Korea,
commonly referred to as South Korea) in the south and the DPRK
(Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly referred as North
Korea) in the north.
With the South backed by the Western powers headed by the US
and the North by the socialist camp led by the former USSR, the
Korean Peninsula became a front of the Cold War, though the Pen-
insula was relatively calm for some time as the two superpowers werein relative equilibrium.
In the early years of the Cold War, North Korea established the
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre for the peaceful use of
nuclear energy in 1959 with the help of the USSR, though the Soviet
experts returned home after North Korea built its first 2-megawatt
small light water reactor in 1965. Then in the early 1980s, North
Korea started to construct a 5-megawatt natural uranium graphite
gas-cooled reactor, which would be able to produce 6 kilograms (
pounds) of weapons-grade plutonium each year.
At the beginning of the 1980s, North Korea started to construct
a reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. At the
same time, the US started to pay attention to the growth of North
Korea’s nuclear capabilities. In 1985, the US pressured the USSR to
force North Korea to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Then in the beginning of the 1990s, the decline and disintegra-
tion of the USSR and the end of the Cold War broke the balance
on the Korean Peninsula. Not only did North Korea lose the sup-
port of its main backer, the USSR, and then of the USSR’s successor,
Russia, China also changed its policy and established diplomatic rela-
tions with South Korea in 1992. North Korea was so unhappy that it
halted most high-level exchanges with China until 1999.
Fu Ying pointed out in her article that the US took no visible steps
to improve relations with North Korea, nor did its ally Japan. The
opportunity for cross-recognition and simultaneous establishment of
diplomatic relations was missed.
It looks as though the events of the early 1990s caused North Korea
a profound sense of crisis at the time and led to its decision to go its
own way, including making the “nuclear choice” for its own security.
After a US satellite discovered that North Korea was secretly de-
veloping nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) conducted six unscheduled inspections in North Korea be-
tween 1992 and 1993, and proposed another “special inspection.”
Then in March 1993, the US and South Korea resumed their joint
military exercises. Regarding these as a doubling down of pressure,
North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT, triggering the
first Korean nuclear crisis.The Korean Nuclear Issue
Past, Present, and Future: A Chinese Perspective
Fu Ying, a former diplomat, offered her perspective on the thorny Korean nuclear issue
Translated and edited by Xu Fangqing and Yu Xiaodong