Denuclearization helped F. W. de Klerk reintegrate into international community while Kim Jong Un aims to ensure his totalitarian rule
VOA’s Korean Service reporter Kim Young-nam spoke to former South African President F. W. de Klerk on Friday about the denuclearization process for North Korea and how it might compare to that of South Africa. As president of South Africa, de Klerk ordered the end of the country’s nuclear weapons program and oversaw its nuclear disarmament process.
Q: Under your presidency (1989-94), South Africa was able to successfully denuclearize. Often times, the North Korean case is compared with the South African model since South Africa was the only country who actually had nuclear weapons and decided to dismantle. I would like to ask how difficult or how long do you think it will take for the international community to denuclearize North Korea.
A: The circumstances in South Africa in 1989 and in North Korea now are entirely different. The threat to South Africa that had led us to develop nuclear weapons had disappeared as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola, the successful independence process in Namibia, and our own initiatives to resolve our problems through democratic negotiations. Also, the South African government, which then represented the minority communities, was a functioning democracy with regular elections, an effective parliament and independent courts.
Our main challenge at that time was to extend non-racial democracy to all our people. We had a clear interest in dismantling our nuclear capability because of its expense and because we wished to rejoin the international community as quickly as possible.
I do not think that the situation in North Korea is at all the same. Kim Jong Un is a totalitarian dictator. His primary interest is in ensuring the continuation of his dynastic rule — and he views his nuclear weapons as a major bargaining chip in this process. He also wants to end the sanctions that are crippling the North Korean economy. Accordingly, I think it is unlikely that he will dispense with his nuclear weapons unless he is absolutely sure that there will be no threat to his regime — but he will continue to negotiate with a view to the removal of all, or some, of the sanctions.
Q: South Africa dismantled its nuclear weapons voluntarily and invited international inspectors for the verification. Do you believe it is possible to denuclearize and verify North Korea if Pyongyang is not willing to fully cooperate with the international community as South Africa did? Also there are many who are pessimistic that North will fully give up all weapons, do you have same concerns?
A: It will be essential to involve the IAEA in any dismantling process — as South Africa did — to ensure that the destruction of all nuclear weapons and fissionable material is meticulously monitored and controlled.
