Dr. T. Douglas ReillyLos Alamos
Much is reported regarding the war of words between the leaders of North Korea and the USA. Unfotunately, little is said about the history of North Korea; whose official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). North Korea is often called the Hermit Kingdom, because it is so closed to the outside world.
President Trump’s words feed directly into the policy and mind of Kim Jong Un. I don’t think continental USA is threatened by the North. However, South Korea (Republic of Korea (ROK)), Japan, and other islands are threatened by North Korea’s army (one of the world’s largest), missiles, and other weapons.
In 1992 the DPRK and ROK signed and ratified the Declaration of Denuclearization of the Korean Penninsula that stated both would stop any weapons program and create a joint agency to inspect all North and South nuclear facilities to assure neither was developing nuclear weapons. Later negotiations, Five-Party Talks, led to several agreements to eliminate the North’s nuclear weapons program. Unfortunately, these efforts failed; in part due to US diplomatic mistakes. A young physicist in my Los Alamos group served as technical advisor to the Five-Party Talks talks; later he served a similar role in the Iran Nuclear Negotiations.
President Trump’s blustery declarations fuel the USA-DPRK conflict. He scares me more than Kim Jong Un. A true leader doesn’t speak this way.
I’m a retired nuclear physicist; I’ve worked with people from both North and South Korea; we’ve had both to dinner at our home. I’ve visited the South and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that is very close to the ROK capital, Seoul. I’ve helped train all the IAEA inspectors who’ve inspected the North’s nuclear site at Yongbyon when inspections were permitted.
Sec’y of State, Rex Tillerson said, ‘US citizens should sleep well;’ I agree. However, I worry about the increased rhetoric, threatened use of nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of such weapons in Japan and South Korea. I know more about the terrible power of these things than most US citizens; while I don’t think their use is likely, what our President says scares me.*
