William J. Perry
Emeritus Board Member
Ignore Kim Jong Un’s Taunts, William J. Perry Tells President Trump in POLITICO Op-Ed
“No one can out-bluster North Korean leaders,” says William J.
Perry, NTI board member emeritus and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, in a
new
op-ed in POLITICO.
Perry knows firsthand that bombastic name-calling from North
Korea is not unique to the current administration – he was called a “war maniac”
by the regime in Pyongyang after President Bill Clinton said the United States
would use military force if North Korea developed the enriched plutonium needed
to make a nuclear bomb in 1994.
“Perhaps the biggest mistake President Trump is making today,”
Perry says, is engaging in this “war of words” instead of ignoring them.
“The risks of invective and insult is that it could
accidentally provoke war by confusing adversaries about the other side’s
genuine intentions. Over the long term, the risk is that it dilutes the fear
and respect upon which U.S. deterrence power depends,” Perry explains.
Diplomacy is a better method for addressing the North Korea
nuclear threat, Perry argues, “as long it’s coming from a position of strength.”
Read the full
op-ed here.
Read more from NTI on North Korea here.
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