I think David Asher is right. Short of force coercive financial sanctions are the only hope of influencing the behavior of the Kim Family Regime (I still find it difficult to believe that anything will cause the regime to give up its nuclear program but I think we can influence its behavior but attacking its money flow). The sanctions on Banco Delta Asia had a significant effect on Kim Jong-il and was one of the only international actions that achieved significant effects on regime decision making and of course when those sanctions were lifted the regime reverted to its old ways.
V/R
Dave
(Yonhap Interview) Financial sanctions key to denuking N. Korea: former U.S. official
2013/09/26 08:00
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Countries involved in talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program should ramp up financial sanctions against the communist country in order to achieve their goal, a former Bush administration official said Thursday.
Multilateral efforts are underway to revive the six-party talks to disarm a nuclear-armed North Korea. The talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008 after six rounds of failed negotiations.
"The whole process (of the six-party disarmament forum) has value, but none of this is likely to succeed in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear program unless we are willing to threaten the regime of Korea North in a way that internally threatens it -- taking away their money and forcing them to fight among themselves," said David Asher, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on the sidelines of an academic forum on North Korea.
The forum was hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
Asher was a senior advisor to former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly under the administration of former President George W. Bush. The former president led a series of hawkish sanctions against what he tagged "rogue states" seeking weapons of mass destruction, including North Korea.
He was one of the authors of the administration's sanctions policy to cut transactions of Macao-based Banco Delta Asia bank in 2007, which was suspected of being used for stashing funds for the regime of then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
"If we want, or have any hope trying to get them to change their nuclear posture, let alone give up their nuclear weapons, we are gonna have to aim at the financial heart of Kim Jong-un's regime, .... and personally I consider that to be a feasible potential strategy," said the ex-official.
The communist country is continuing to engage in illegal activities and weapons proliferation for its financial survival because "they literally don't have enough means to generate wealth internally to satisfy the need of the regime," he added.
The absence of a banking system in the North forces it to rely on the international financial system for survival and in many previous cases the U.S. has been proven to be able to target part of the international financial system, he said, adding that it "is something the U.S. can do uniquely because 95 percent of all global dollar wire transfers go through New York."
"My personal view is that the Kim dynasty needs to be credibly threatened in order for them to ever make a strategic choice. They see the nuclear weapons system as a thing that will save them. They need to see the nuclear system as a thing that will destroy them," noted Asher.
"My personal view is that the Kim dynasty needs to be credibly threatened in order for them to ever make a strategic choice. They see the nuclear weapons system as a thing that will save them. They need to see the nuclear system as a thing that will destroy them," noted Asher.
Asher's highlight on financial sanctions against the North comes amid quickening efforts by China to resume the six-way forum, involving two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The multilateral forum launched in 2003 held its last meeting in late 2008, as the North walked out of the dialogue and continued to develop its nuclear programs.
(Continued at the link below)
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