Former US officials say former US President Jimmy Carter has a complex legacy on the Korean Peninsula, including his key role in deescalating the crisis between the United States and North Korea in 1994.
Thomas Hubbard, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 2001 to 2004, told VOA Korean by phone on Wednesday that despite some negative reactions from President Bill Clinton’s administration, Carter’s intervention in North Korea significantly reduced tensions.
Referring to Carter’s meeting in June 1994, Hubbard said, “His initial involvement was in the early 1990s when he went to North Korea, met with Kim Il Sung, opened up an opportunity that made war less likely and agreed. The outline is ready.” Kim Il Sung, the late founder of North Korea.
Hubbard was the lead negotiator of the Agreed Framework signed by the US and North Korea in Geneva in October 1994, which aimed to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
VOA Korean sought comment from North Korea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, but did not receive a response.
Carter, who was the 39th US president and served from 1977 to 1981, visited Pyongyang as North Korea’s announced withdrawal from the International Atomic Energy Agency created the first major crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
He crossed the inter-Korean border from the South Korean side into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with his wife Rosalynn and held talks with the North Korean leader for two days in Pyongyang.
Carter was the first former US president to visit the isolated country and meet with the North Korean head of state.
controversial mission
At the time, North Korea threatened to expel IAEA inspectors, demonstrating its intention to develop nuclear weapons, and the United States pressed for UN sanctions on North Korea. It was speculated that Clinton was planning a preemptive strike on North Korea.
Following talks between Carter and Kim, North Korea agreed to halt its nuclear program in exchange for resuming talks with the US. first nuclear deal over 40 years between the US and North Korea, although this agreement broke down in 2003.
“It would be no exaggeration to say that it felt like it was on the brink of war,” Daniel Russell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said in an email to VOA Korean on Monday. “We were right at the edge of the cliff.”
As a young diplomat, Russell and then-US Ambassador to South Korea James Laney helped Carter prepare for his visit to the DMZ.
North Korea warned that sanctions would be considered an “act of war” and would begin the process of withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Russell said.
“The immediate crisis was averted. We were really close to war and Jimmy Carter saved us from it,” he said.
Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said that Carter’s mission “was ultimately successful, but the Clinton administration was unhappy because Carter tried to put no constraints on North Korea’s nuclear program.” “Didn’t.” Part of the solution to that immediate conflict.”
Hubbard also presented a similar view.
Hubbard said, “I think what made it controversial is that Carter accepted some positions beyond the Clinton administration’s stance with North Korea, and then he went on CNN before informing us. Announced them publicly.” “That was quite a shock.”
CNN, which closely followed Carter’s visit to Pyongyang, first reported that Carter told the North Koreans that the United States had stopped imposing international sanctions against North Korea, which Clinton quickly denied,
Carter visited North Korea twice in 2010 and 2011 on personal humanitarian missions. While his visit in 2010 secured the release of American teacher Ejalon Mahali Gomes, who had been imprisoned in North Korea for seven months, he failed to meet Kim Jong Il, successor to his father Kim Il Sung, during any visit. But.
While his later presidential efforts on the Korean Peninsula are more widely known, there was another moment of controversy in Carter’s presidency, as his push for the withdrawal of U.S. ground troops from South Korea led to U.S.–South Korea tensions. The alliance was shaken.
strive for human rights
When he assumed the presidency, Carter was determined Don’t ignore human rights abuses by US alliesHe found it problematic that the United States would support a country under an oppressive government. Him, One such country was South Korea Then.
“One of the big things Carter campaigned on was human rights,” Soumer said. “At the time, South Korea was ruled by a military government, and they wanted to reduce relations with countries that were not democratic.”
The former president, who promised to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea during his presidential campaign, met with then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee on the issue during his 1979 visit to South Korea, according to diplomatic documents from both of them. There was a war of words. countries.
according to a declassified documents From the White House, Park criticized the planned withdrawal of US forces from Korea, arguing that the idea itself emboldened North Korea. On this, Carter suggested that South Korea should increase defense spending.
Joseph Detrani, a former special envoy for the six-party talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006, told VOA Korean by phone on Monday that one reason behind Carter’s decision was America’s growing relationship with China, which has fought against the US. Had fought. 1950–53 Korean War in support of North Korea.
“We were normalizing relations with the People’s Republic of China. There was a feeling that war was not going to break out on the Korean Peninsula,” said Detrani, who also served as director of East Asia operations at the Central Intelligence Agency.
“People who follow developments on the Korean Peninsula felt it was not the right decision,” he said.
The withdrawal of US forces from the East Asian ally ultimately did not succeed, largely due to opposition from the US Congress and military.
“President Carter was interested in establishing peace everywhere, wherever there was conflict. “He did not believe there was a compelling need for the Americans to deploy so many troops in so many places,” Yawei Liu, senior adviser on China at the Carter Center, told VOA Korean by phone on Monday.
Carter died on Sunday at his home in Georgia at the age of 100. Carter’s official state funeral will be held on January 9 in Washington.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed condolences on Carter’s death.
“He was particularly interested in promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula and worked actively on this,” it said. statement Released on Monday.