Sam Nunn and Mike Mullen with Recommendations on North Korea

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post,  Mike Mullen, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Senator Sam Nunn, NTI Co-chairman and CEO, describe conclusions from the Independent Task Force on U.S. Policy Toward North Korea, which they co-chaired.  The Task Force was sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The op-ed notes that “This threat affects close U.S. allies – South Korea and Japan – and U.S. personnel and facilities in the region. In the coming months and years, it will create increasing danger for the United States. It is likely that the next president will face a North Korea that has gained the capability to strike the United States with nuclear weapons.”  The op-ed offers four recommendations for next steps, including addressing the North Korean threat must be a “front-burner issue” for the United States and China;  offering North Korea new and genuine incentives to participate in substantive talks; increasing economic sanctions that more severely restrict the regime’s funding sources; and securing U.S. interests and those of its allies against the North Korean nuclear and missile threats by expanding U.S.-South Korea-Japan cooperation and strengthening its joint deterrence profile. 

Read the op-ed. 

Note:  The views in the Task Force report do not necessarily reflect those of NTI, its Board of Directors or institutions with which they are associated. 

Update: Below is the full video from the Council on Foreign Relations Report launch, featuring Mike Mullen and Sam Nunn: