North Korea's Two-Track Strategy

There is an interesting similarity in strategy between the United States and North Korea. Both sides are taking a two-track approach to the issue of nuclear weapons. Washington's two-track elements are well known as sanctions and dialogue; Pyongyang's two tracks consist of defiant confrontation and conditional negotiation. Pyongyang puts into practice what it quickly learns from Washington to protect and increase its interests.

North Korea took provocative actions last spring, beginning with a long-range rocket launch and a second nuclear test, which brought U.N. sanctions on the North. In return, Pyongyang pronounced the six-party process was dead. Since Bill Clinton's visit to Pyongyang last August, Kim Jong-il has been seeking conditional nuclear negotiation with the United States in both bilateral and multilateral fora. At the same time, North Korea is always ready to fall back on its hard-line stance, if it finds some doubts.