Nov 18, 2018 4 min read

HARRISBURG – Once again, news reports continue to surface that North Korea may be secretly expanding its nuclear program while outwardly pledging denuclearization. And once again, our experts along with media pundits are blinded to North Korean thinking, culture and history.

For nearly seven decades we have been repeating the same mistakes in negotiating with North Korea. History will continue to repeat unless we introduce a different approach. As I have experienced and written about, during the Agreed Framework (AF) of 1994, North Korean officials agreed to a path of denuclearization while the North Korean military secretly continued developing its nuclear program. During my service in 2001, the North Koreans frequently hinted that if the United States failed to show genuine progress on implementing the AF, North Korea would “go its own way.” U.S. leaders misinterpreted what that meant. At that point, the AF floundered years behind schedule due to a number of political reasons, with both sides blaming each other.

North Korea suffers internal factions just like in the U.S. government. North Korean military leaders believed the United States was purposely stalling the AF and playing North Korea for a sucker (sound familiar?). The United States fundamentally did not trust North Korea would fulfill its part of the AF, which some argue became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Fast forward to the current overarching framework agreed to in Singapore. The United States insists sanctions will continue until total denuclearization is achieved. Factions in the U.S. Congress and the media have continuously criticized, casting grave doubt on the overall efficacy of the agreement. The same factions are still active in North Korea. While diplomats work to hammer out an agreement, the military faction resists, pointing to U.S. stalling as justification to continue developing missile technology until a final agreement is reached.

We appear on a path of failure very similar to the previous agreement. The current difference is that we can still correct course transforming this path of doom to one of success. I have consistently insisted that our lack of contact causes us to misunderstand and misinterpret North Korean signals and intentions.

For more than 60 years, our dealings with North Korea have been a disaster, and it appears the advice offered today is quite similar to the failed counsel of the past.

America suffers a fundamental inability to understand North Koreans, compounded by lack of direct contact inside the Hermit Kingdom. North Korea is ready to improve relations with the United States, but the path to success is narrow and the choices are few. We must overcome decades of mistrust and misunderstanding by pursuing a new enlightened path with North Korea.

We should not be surprised that history is repeating itself in our current relations, but we can blame ourselves for allowing it to continue. We should learn from not only our decades of mistakes but certainly from our most recent ones. To put this train back on track we must work toward verifiable steps that both nations agree to, not demands proposed by one side. Included in those steps should be achievable milestones. As we accomplish each one, both North Korea and America can claim incremental success showing demonstrable progress and confidence building. Both sides desire achievable goals. The North covets a peace agreement, the lifting of sanctions. The United States pursues inventory of North Korean nuclear weapons and a timetable for destruction, to name just a few. We can get to YES. We must do so in small increments.

The alternative is failure resulting in each side blaming each other. The Singapore agreement provided a positive step forward. The long road ahead remains riddled with snares. Our leaders must close the deal with small but achievable steps over the next two years. Let’s make sure we do not permit this breakthrough to become another self-fulfilling prophecy of defeat.

Rick Saccone represents the 39th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.