'NK should reciprocate in deal with US'

Gregory Treverton, former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul. / Korea Times file

By Kim Bo-eun

North Korea should reciprocate in its denuclearization deal with the U.S., according to one of the U.S.'s top authorities on intelligence. The remarks came after the historic summit between leaders of the states in Singapore last week, where the U.S. agreed to provide regime security for North Korea and to suspend joint military drills with South Korea, in return for North Korea's complete denuclearization.

"North Korea should reciprocate such as through halting its enrichment programs, listing its nuclear facilities or providing a denuclearization time table," Gregory Treverton, former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, told The Korea Times in an interview in Seoul. Treverton was visiting to attend the 2018 Global Intelligence Summit hosted by the Institute for National Security Strategy last week.

To criticism that the U.S. made concessions, while the agreement did not include details on North Korea's denuclearization such as a timeline, or specific measures, Treverton said the outcome of the summit "is positive, since it is the first time North Korea has raised the topic of denuclearization since it attained nuclear weapons ― having that mentioned is the beginning."

In addition, he referred to the concessions as "confidence building gestures" and added they were reversible in the case North Korea does not commit to its pledge.

The denuclearization process should involve freezing nuclear activities and identifying the facilities and programs and how they can be dismantled, Terverton said, stressing "verification is key."

"There are more than 100 nuclear sites we know of. North Korea has been good at tunneling and burying and many facilities aren't very large and do not consume much energy so they are not easy to find," he said. "It will be critical whether North Korea agrees to inspectors going to new sites."

The security veteran was in the U.S. government when the Barack Obama administration drew up the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

However, North Korea's denuclearization case is "historically new," Treverton said. "It is the only case of reversing a state that already has nuclear weapons and making it a non-nuclear state," he said, which is not comparable to other cases, including Iran, in which the countries were only in their early stages of nuclear program development.

"Complete, Verifiable and Irreversible Denuclearization (CVID) is a better bumper sticker than a guide to a policy," he said. "Nuclear knowledge is reversible once you know how to do it ― so experimentation will be needed on both sides."

Regarding the U.S. leaving the Iran nuclear deal in May, Treverton said it left collateral pieces of damage. "If you were Kim Jong-un, would you be able to trust the U.S. to abide by their agreement?"

Finally, on the North Korean leader's motives for denuclearization, Treverton cited his Korean-American acquaintances, although he stated he was not entirely convinced.

"They say North Korea completed work on its nuclear program and that this provides the chance to take its people out of abject poverty. Now is the time to use that chip and use it well, they say," he said.

"If you're Kim Jong-un, you will want to leave your country well off not impoverished, isolated and scared. This is optimists' hope and I hope they are right."