CRISIS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA: How to Deal with a Nuclear North Korea

The authors of this study have a worthy goal: to completely transform the nature of the world's relationship with North Korea. Although appreciative of previous attempts to freeze the North's provocative nuclear program, O'Hanlon and Mochizuki see the faults in past efforts, and make a strong case for a new way to bring a stable peace to the peninsula and to introduce the so-called Hermit Kingdom to the international community. Few are more qualified to address the issue than "[t]he two Mikes," as they are dubbed in the foreword by Brookings Institution president Strobe Talbott. The pair have passed their careers in many of the nation's best think tanks and universities, and have spent much ink on the topic of East Asian security. In this instance, they propose a clear, reasoned and, most important, achievable "grand bargain" with the North that would involve a broad range of demands while offering specific incentives to reform. To readers unfamiliar with the nuclear crisis that has unfolded since October of last year, when North Korea allegedly admitted it possessed a uranium-enrichment program, the book can be unforgiving; O'Hanlon and Mochizuki launch right into their nuanced approach to defuse the crisis. After they outline their proposal, however, the book becomes a comprehensive, must-read introductory text to the conflict, and the subject is bizarre enough to hold anyone's attention, or at least anyone who thinks a leader said to have been born amid the appearance of double rainbows and able to write up to 1,000 books a day is bizarre. (Sept. 5)