I’ve never fallen in love with brutal authoritarian leaders @realDonaldTrump and certainly not the leader of NK. I did however come close to a tough deal with Kim Jong-Il in 2000. It was a hard failure to accept.
The pain of a deal getting away is proportional to how close you come. I began negotiating with NK @BillClinton in 1997 after they tested longer range missiles and shipped technology to Iran. Then NK flew a test missile over Japan.
We slapped sanctions on to kick-start negotiations. In May 1999, I went to Pyongyang with @SecDef19 with a letter from Clinton. If they stop their missile program, we drop sanctions. They had no nuclear weapons yet.
Dealing with NK is always one part tortuous diplomacy, one part absurdity. It’s also like Groundhog Day. Events repeat over and over. Things are often surreal.
Secretary Perry and I visited a rice paddy where farmers and oxen worked alongside propaganda signs while a military band in white pristine uniforms played revolutionary songs.
We knew they were eavesdropping on every conversation and used this to our advantage when Kim Jong-Il refused to meet with us. Perry and I discussed our goals for the meeting. It allowed NKs listening to us to understand opportunity indirectly.
Kim Jong-Il, the ‘Dear Leader’ though certainly not dear, was smart and transactional. When I went back in October 2000 with @madeleine he could address the 14 key technical issues about the missile program.
In intense and high stakes negotiations, details are everything. If a leader knows the details, it greatly improves the chances for a good outcome.
We brought him a gift:a signed basketball from @Jumpman23. Kim loved the NBA and Chicago Bulls. We were close to a finalizing a deal but time ran out and rushing is never good. The 2000 election ended with Bush as president.
Colin Powell said it would be wise to ‘play this hand’ with NK, but Condi Rice felt differently. Soon the Bush administration went in a different direction. The initiative we’d worked so hard to make with NK was dead.
It was tough to have worked so hard with nothing to show. But it helped to look at the big picture. To think about what I had gained and how I might use knowledge, process and techniques to support something else.
I try to remember advice from @JohnKerry . It applies to many things in life”Sometimes you have to meet and not get anywhere in order to one day get somewhere.” But falling in love in diplomacy @realDonaldTrump is a very dangerous move.
