Whats the minimum Americans need to know about North Korean culture and history to understand this crisis?
Well, I think that the average American in Kansas may not even distinguish that there are two Koreas. The amazing thing is that when the South Korean delegation, our allies, arrived in D.C., some of the government security people who weren’t very well-educated asked, “What Korea are you from?” That’s the level of overall awareness of the global situation. It’s common sense that before we try to engage North Korea on missile issues, we need to have a bare minimum understanding of their society and culture. Secondly, we have to listen to regional policy makers — what South Korea is saying, what Japan is saying — and engage in some kind of consensus building through serious consultation, rather than assume we are the one who dictates the course of the action. Can you compare the way the Clinton and Bush administrations have handled North Korea? There is a huge difference. The Clinton administration used the word “engagement” — engagement and dialogue were the basic model. Bush [has emp
