Fleitz debates Bush Admin North Korea Envoys on restarting Six Party Talks with North Korea

On June 25, Center for Security Policy President Fred Fleitz, former US Special Envoy for North Korea Ambassador Joseph DeTrani and former US Special Envoy for North Korea Ambassador Christopher Hill participated in a webinar sponsored by The Washington Times and the Universal Peace Federation on Prospects for Renewal of the Six Party Talks: Goals vs. Expectations.

DeTrani and Hill served as special envoys for North Korea in the George W. Bush administration. They both supported the Biden administration’s plan to address North Korea’s nuclear program through multilateral diplomacy, especially by restarting the Six Party Talks process of the Bush years. This group would include North Korea, South Korea, Japan, the US, Russia and China. DeTrani strongly urged a multilateral process that includes and is led by China.

Fleitz disagreed. He argued that US bilateral talks with North Korea like what the Trump administration attempted were the best way to deal with North Korea if America leads from a position of strength. He believes a multilateral process will ease pressure on North Korea. Fleitz was critical of DeTrani’s call to include China in this process since Beijing would use the talks to manipulate them against US interests like it did during the Bush administration. Fleitz called the Six Party Talks of the 2000s an abject failure, noting that North Korea used the time it gained from these talks to construct and test its first two nuclear weapons.