A couple of interesting Op-eds have been published recently. The first op-ed published on CNN includes Joshua Stanton a ROK Drop favorite that blogs over at One Free Korea. The op-ed emphasizes two key points
The only way to change this equation is to persuade Pyongyang that its regime preservation is dependent on reform and disarmament.
Washington may achieve this with a two-pronged strategy targeting Pyongyang’s systemic vulnerabilities: First, block the Kim Jong Un regime’s offshore hard currency reserves and income with financial sanctions, including secondary sanctions against its foreign enablers. This would significantly diminish, if not altogether deny, Kim the means to pay his military, security forces and elites that repress the North Korean public.
Second, delegitimize Kim’s rule in the eyes of his people and the world by engaging them through broadcasting and other information operations directed at the North Korean people, reinforced by a sustained diplomatic campaign to demand accountability for the regime’s crimes against humanity. [CNN]
Here is probably the most important paragraph of the op-ed:
Through each of Pyongyang’s previous nuclear and long-range missile tests, U.S. policymakers have harbored the illusion that Beijing’s patience with Pyongyang must have finally run out.
But all Beijing has done so far is demonstrate a disingenuous pattern of diplomatic ambidexterity. China will not solve the North Korea problem for the United States until China sees the Kim regime as a financial liability, a threat to its own security or a threat to stability along its own border.
The Kim regime knows that they can survive any sanctions as long as the Chinese continue to believe that regime stability is in their strategic interests. This is why they continue to conduct provocations like the latest nuclear test despite Chinese objections because they know they can get away with it. China’s strategic interests in regards to North Korea much shift before any real change in North Korea can occur.
