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The Umbrella and the Mushroom: Realism and Extremism on North Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Gavan McCormack
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Four times now since August 2003, the government of China has been host to what have become known as the “Six-Sided Talks.” The key protagonists, the United States and North Korea, are as asymmetrical as any two countries could be, on one side the greatest military and industrial power in history and on the other one of the world's poorest and most isolated small states.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 8 , August 2005 , e30
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

References

Notes

[1] Hamish McDonald, “US backs away from another regime change,” Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2005.

[2] “South Korea, Russia wants diplomatic push, China blames US Policy,” Agence FrancePresse, 1 September 2003.

[3] See Selig Harrison, “Crafting intelligence,” March 2005, Japan Focus.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Selig Harrison, “Did North Korea cheat?” Foreign Affairs, January-February 2005, and at Japan Focus.

[6] “N.K has right to peaceful nuclear use: Chung,” The Korea Herald, 12 August 2005.

[7] Yu Yoshitake, Asahi shimbun, 26 July 2005, quoting a “senior State Department official”.

[8] Yu Yoshitake, “6-way talks split on final wording,” Asahi shimbun. 1 August 2005. South Korea's Unification Minister and head of its National Security Council, Chung Dong-young, also made clear Seoul's position that North Korea was entitled to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. “N.K has right to peaceful nuclear use: Chung,” Korea Herald, 12 August 2005.

[9] China currently has six nuclear power plants, with nine operating sets in operation and two under construction. Its plans to construct30 new reactors between 2005 and 2020, and to raise the nuclear component of the national grid from its current 2.3 per cent to 4 per cent (from 8,700 MW to 36,000 MW). ““China accelerates nuclear energy development,” People's Daily Online, 27 September 2004, and “Nuclear power industry faces development opportunity,” China Economic News, 11 May 2005.

[10] Yomiuri Daily Online, 1 August.

[11] “McNamara derides illegal nuke policies,” AP, 10 March 2005.

[12] Jimmy Carter, “Saving nonproliferation,” The Washington Post, 28 March 2005.

[13] “The GOJ (Government of Japan) … cannot help but rely upon security policies which include nuclear deterrence.” See discussion between Japanese NGO organizations and the arms control and disarmament specialists of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Real Thinking of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs”

[14] Morton Halperin, “The nuclear dimension of the U.S.-Japan alliance,” Nautilus Institute 1999?

[15] Hans M. Kristensen, “Japan under the nuclear umbrella: US nuclear weapons and nuclear war planning in Japan during the Cold War,” Nautilus Institute, July 1999.

[16] Umebayashi Hiromichi, “Nihon dokuji no hokatsuteki na kaku gunshuku teian o,” Ronza, June 2005, pp. 188-193, p. 193.

[17] “Saving ourselves from self-destruction,” New York Times, 12 February 2004.

[18] Mohammed Elbaradei, “Seven steps to raise world security,” The Financial Times, 2 February 2005.

[19] Text

[20] On the Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, and its antecedents, Hiromichi Umebayashi, “A Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone,” 11 August 2005, Nautilus Institute

[21] Hans M. Kristensen, “Japan under the nuclear umbrella: US nuclear weapons and nuclear war planning in Japan during the Cold War,” Nautilus Institute, July 1999,

[22] “Vulnerability of North Korean Forces,” Defense Nuclear Agency, Washington, April 1977-March 1978, published under FOI by Nautilus Institute, 31 March 2004.

[23] Chosun ilbo, 6 June 2005.

[24] William Arkin, “Not just a last resort? A global strike plan, with a nuclear option,” Washington Post, 15 May 2005.

[25] For a convenient summary of the evidence on this: Bruce Cumings, “Why Did Truman Really Fire MacArthur? The Obscure History of Nuclear Weapons and the Korean War Provides the Answer,” Le Monde Diplomatique, December 2004, reproduced in “History News Network,” 11 March 2005.

[26] International Court of Justice, Advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, 9 July 1996, paragraph 97.