November 22, 2004

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: WILLIAM KRISTOL

SUBJECT: Toward Regime Change in North Korea

Recent reports suggest the presence of emerging cracks in the Stalinist power structure of North Korea, and even the emergence of serious dissident activity there. These should remind us that one of President Bush's top priorities in his second term will have to be dealing with this wretched regime. Nicholas Eberstadt provides useful guidance for an improved North Korean policy in the current issue of the Weekly Standard, ("Tear Down This Tyranny: A Korea strategy for Bush's second term," November 29).

To move beyond a policy that is "long on attitude (axis of evil) but short on strategy," Eberstadt writes that the Bush administration must recognize that North Korea cannot be talked or bribed out of its nuclear program, and that getting rid of Kim Jong Il and the current government should be our goal. From there, Eberstadt recommends several steps:

• Bring in new officials to rethink and fix a stalled policy;
• Stop the "perverse dynamic" of endless negotiating while Pyongyang builds up its nuclear arsenal;
• Reject ambiguous and counterproductive behavior by China;
• Develop a strategy to deal with problems created by the government now in office in Seoul;
• Make clear that regime change in North Korea and reunification of the Korean peninsula are our ultimate policy goals.

Simply blaming the current state of affairs on the legacy of the Clinton Administration is not a policy. Eberstadt's clear headed and practical advice provides a good action agenda for an incoming secretary of state and a new policy team. As Eberstadt rightly says, "If North Korea's threat to America is greater four years from now than today, that will be a Bush administration legacy. And history is unlikely to judge such a legacy kindly."