Bolton: Expel North Korea from the U.N.
[Bolton] urged Obama’s team to first put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism following its removal in the waning months of the Bush administration. Bolton also urged the UN Security Council to expel Pyongyang from the world body as a “persistent violator” of UN resolutions. [AFP]
The accusation is obviously true, and it could be justified for human rights reasons alone.
North Korea has also consistently stolen U.N. development and food aid and refused to cooperate with the U.N. human rights rapporteur. While it’s always good to leave open channels of communication for those times when they’re actually useful, I’m not seeing the down side to this. What actual good is there in having North Korea as a member of the United Nations in good standing that can’t be done by ad hoc envoys? And considering that the U.N.’s former Special Envoy Tongsun Park was subsequently convicted of crimes related to the oil-for-food scandal, even that may also be a step too far.
Gah. This is where I think Bolton is principled to a fault and only further ostracizes himself from the mainstream (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
First, member states would never stand for this. There is too much value in keeping inroads to potential engagement open.
Second, we shouldn’t throw out multilateral efforts because bilateral strategies seem more attractive and expedient now. I’m not buying the whole argument that’s circulating right now about how the US should alienate China and Russia from de-nuclearization talks and go in alone or with a coalition of the begrudgingly willing. What happens when things go sour? What happens when we actually need the help of neighbor-countries?
I think we’re only going to get the help of those neighbor countries if they understand that there are strategic consequences for failing to cooperate.
On a slightly related note, there’s a reasonable chance that North Korea might qualify for the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa. Any thoughts on whether sanctions should kick them out of that? It happened to Yugoslavia in 1992.