As has been the case over the last several years, international attention was focused on North Korea last week as former U.S. president Bill Clinton went on a “humanitarian” mission to seek the release of two American journalists detained there. Unlike other attempts at international reconciliation with North Korea, Clinton’s visit was a large success, winning the release of the journalists and possibly opening a new arena of dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea over its human rights record and nuclear program.
Clinton’s visit to North Korea was the first high profile U.S. visit to the country since Clinton sent his Secretary of State Madeline Albright there a decade ago. Under Clinton, tensions between the U.S. and North Korea were high, with some experts predicting a renewed Korean War in the post-Cold War world. However, thanks to the 1994 Agreed Framework between the two countries, those tensions simmered down until North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003.
The visit of the former president granted a degree of prestige to North Korea’s ailing leader Kim Jong-il, whose recent belligerent actions in regards to nuclear weapon and missile tests are said to be designed to shore up his standing in the country with the military and ensure that his third son takes his place. In fact, it has been reported that the North Korean government informed the United States that if President Clinton came to visit them that they would grant the release of the two journalists.
This topic brief will provide some quick background of the dispute over the journalists, explain how the release of the journalists could impact international mediation over the North Korea nuclear issue, and how it could have major political and foreign policy impacts for the Obama administration moving forward.