James Clapper has this right: An “alternative approach” to North Korea is needed. The former director of national intelligence made the claim in Seoul this week at a seminar hosted by the Joongang Ilbo (a major South Korean newspaper) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The historical record speaks for itself: Bill Clinton’s administration struck a supposed non-proliferation deal with the Kim regime in 1994, which the nominally socialist state quickly proceeded to cheat on. George W. Bush then pursued a quasi-schizophrenic good-cop, bad-cop routine, one day (excellently) declaring he “hated” Kim Jong-il, then later, disgracefully, removing the terror-sponsoring state from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama, for his part—the man Clapper served for six and a half years—practiced what was euphemistically referred to as “strategic patience,” also known as “sitting around and hoping the Kims shape up.” They didn’t, and here we are. North Korea is now nuclear-armed and remains the human rights horror show it’s always been.
Clapper now suggests setting up a diplomatic mission in North Korea, similar to the one we had in Cuba for many years. (In 2015, the U.S. finally established a full embassy in Havana.) Short of a full-scale embassy, the U.S. would instead have an “interests section” in an ally’s embassy there. That’s not an inherently terrible idea: It might be useful to have some American personnel there to deal with the inevitable American hostages that the regime takes, for instance. Indeed, even after Otto Warmbier’s shocking murder, three American prisoners remain in North Korea, and we ask the Swedish embassy to check in on them. That’s a job we should probably be doing ourselves.
But where Clapper runs into trouble is his offer of reciprocity: Were the U.S. to establish an interests section in North Korea, “We would, of course, allow a similar presence by North Korea in Washington,” he said.
This is … not a good idea. When North Korea sends their diplomats, they’re not sending their best. North Korean’s diplomatic offices are scarcely traditional embassies and interest sections. Indeed, just as North Korea isn’t really a functioning nation-state—it’s more of a criminal syndicate, helmed by the Kim family—the embassies tend to be fronts for illicit operations. Pyongyang’s embassies in Europe, for example, have long been involved in counterfeiting. According to people in the know, the country’s “diplomats” are sent to Europe with stacks of counterfeit money. The “diplomats” are then tasked with exchanging the notes, in small batches, for real notes at numerous banks across the continent. The embassies are also involved in securing luxury goods for the regime—this in contravention of United Nations sanctions—and drug-running. Even more alarming, it appears that the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam was managed, in part, out of the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Mr. Clapper has some useful ideas, but the idea of allowing the North Koreans to set up shop in Washington should be a nonstarter.
