Carter’s Deal

Prior Posting: Carter Enters the Nuclear Crisis

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On June 15, 1994, former President Carter and his wife Rosalyn crossed the DMZ at Panmunjom and were escorted to Pyongyang to meet Kim Il Sung in Carter’s effort to stop the march to war on the Korean peninsula. It is important to keep in mind that Carter’s trip was that of a private citizen and not endorsed by the US government.

However, this mattered little to Kim Il Sung who saw Carter as a negotiator for the US government since he was at the time the highest ranking US official to ever visit North Korea. Kim Il Sung explained to Carter that North Korea only wanted to make energy not nuclear weapons. This explanation however, doesn’t explain why they were removing uranium for enrichment, but he insisted North Korea only wanted energy and was willing to give up his current nuclear program in exchange for the international community building him light water nuclear reactors that put out more energy and do not leave by products that can be used in nuclear weapons. Kim was also concerned about the placement of US nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Carter assured Kim that there was no US nuclear weapons on the peninsula or surrounding waters and that he would return to Washington and support Kim’s idea of constructing light water nuclear reactors. In exchange Kim agreed to freezing North Korea’s current nuclear activities and allow IAEA nuclear inspectors to return. Carter also agreed to prevent any attempts at implementing UN economic sanctions on the North Koreans. The North Koreans made it quite clear that sanctions meant war and Carter believed they were serious.

While the negotiations with Carter were going on, the White House was preparing their own policy concerning North Korea. This policy meeting included Secretary of State Christopher, Secretary of Defense Perry, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Shalikashvili, CIA Director Woolsey, and UN Ambassador Albright. President Clinton had already given the group the go ahead for UN sanctions on North Korea which in turn caused the group to begin exploring defense options for Korea since the sanctions may lead to war.

Two options were being explored. One was to dispatch a large force to defend South Korea with, but that would have meant that the military would have had to call up reserve units which would have tipped their hand to the North Koreans and alarmed the US public. The second option which they were working on was to create a quiet build up of a smaller force composed of one additional carrier group, warships, planes, and 10,000 additional soldiers.

Before they could complete the details for the build up, the phone rang and Carter was on the other end. He announced to the group that he had convinced the North Koreans to freeze their nuclear program in exchange for continued talks between the US and North Korea over the construction of light water nuclear reactors. Carter also mentioned that he was soon going live with a CNN team that had been allowed into North Korea with the news.

The White House was well aware of North Korea’s desire for light water nuclear reactors in exchange for ending his nuclear program, but the White House did not want to give in to nuclear blackmail and set a dangerous precedent for the future. The White House was furious over Carter’s actions in securing this deal with Kim with one member of the meeting reportedly saying that Carter’s actions were “near traitorous”.

Kim Il Sung had played a brilliant hand. He knew the White House was not going to give him what he wanted so he looked for someone that would and that person was Carter. He easily convinced Carter to agree with the deal and Kim had the country’s lone international media outlet, a CNN crew conveniently waiting for him to announce the news after the meeting giving the White House little time to react to the news.

Next Posting: The White House’s Reaction