Newswise — North Korea's recent test firing of a short-ranged missile signals its willingness to create a crisis situation that would force the United States into bilateral negotiations, according to Gettysburg College Physics Prof. Peter Pella, who also worked for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Nonproliferation.
Although the U.S., Japan and South Korea have labeled the test firing in the Sea of Japan "insignificant," the U.S. administration needs to assign a much higher priority and take a more proactive approach to de-nuclearize North Korea, such as bilateral talks, Pella says. As more than 180 nations gather in New York to examine the successes and failures of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, North Korea is once again "flexing its muscles."
"This latest missile test was another attempt by North Korea to force the U.S. into bilateral talks," Pella said. "If this test doesn't work, the North Koreans might try to ratchet up the pressure by conducting a nuclear test, maybe even during the month-long conference."
According to Pella, North Korea wants to have bilateral talks with the U.S. and the U.S. refuses, saying that any negations have to involve others in the region, such as South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. These six-party talks are going nowhere after three rounds of talks so far - the last one occurring over a year ago.
Pella has been a faculty member at Gettysburg College since 1987. He worked with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Nonproliferation, both as a William Foster Fellow Arms Control Specialist, in 1994 and 2000 respectively. He has received the U.S. Meritorious Service Award for achieving the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons without conditions and without a vote in 1996. He received a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering from the United States Military Academy, a master's in experimental nuclear physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from Kent State University.
According to Pella, for the past 15 years the U.S. policy concerning North Korea has had limited effect on North Korea's nuclear program. The only successful policy achievement was the US/North Korean Accords signed during the Clinton administration in 1994, and that only froze North Korea's nuclear program for four years. By 1998, North Korea was active in their nuclear program, violating the terms of the previous agreement.
"North Korea has gone from a country that might have had material for a couple of nuclear weapons to a self-declared nuclear weapons state," Pella said. "They are manufacturing more plutonium for weapons and now the U.S. estimates that they might have eight or nine fully functional weapons."
Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With approximately 2,500 students, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.
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