America and the challenge called North Korea

(Baonghean) - The death of student Otto Warmbier after being released by North Korea and returning to the US is having a negative effect on the North Korea scenario of the Donald Trump administration. The US will have to consider tougher measures, but that does not necessarily mean success.

Question after question

After the news of Otto Warmbier’s death was announced, many questions were raised about what the US administration of President Donald Trump did to resolve the student’s case when it was too late. Washington’s policy towards North Korea up to now has been confirmed to be a copy of the direction of the previous administration of Barack Obama.

The plan is to pressure North Korea through China, an ally of the North, to end its nuclear and missile ambitions. But that approach has largely failed to work. Many observers in the US have criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the issue. “If anything should wake us up and call for greater action, it would be Otto’s death,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.

Otto Warmbier at his trial in Pyongyang, where he was sentenced to hard labor. Photo: Foxnews

News of the death of young Otto Warmbier also shocked the US Congress. Senator John McCain spoke out demanding more decisive action: “America cannot and should not tolerate hostile forces killing its citizens.”

President Donald Trump himself admitted that the approach to North Korea through China had failed, and now the US would have to change its strategy. Writing on his personal Twitter page on June 20, President Trump said: “I appreciate the efforts of President Xi Jinping and China to help with North Korea, but it didn’t work. At least I know China tried!”

The president's comments raised questions about whether they amounted to warnings that the United States was about to take unilateral action. "I think the president is expressing frustration," Christopher Hill, a former US ambassador to South Korea, told MSNBC. "President Trump is saying he understands that it didn't work. He's defending himself, trying to justify that at least the US administration tried, criticizing those who didn't."

Otto Warmbier (blue shirt, left) with two friends at the University of Virginia. Photo: Washington Post.

The death of Otto Warmbier, two days before the US-China Strategic and Defense Dialogue in Washington, has made the North Korea issue even more sensitive. US Defense Secretary James Mattis and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will certainly have to seriously raise this issue with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi; Central Military Commission member and Chief of the Joint Staff of the Central Military Commission, Senior Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui. In addition, on June 20, US spy satellites detected many activities at a North Korean nuclear test site, but it is not yet possible to conclude that Pyongyang is about to conduct a nuclear test.

Pressure on the White House

The unfortunate incident of Otto Warmbier is also unfortunate for the Donald Trump administration. Significantly increased domestic pressure will force the Washington administration to take tougher actions. This will directly increase tensions with China. “Like former President Obama, Mr. Trump has been strongly critical of North Korea, but he continues to ‘play it easy’ with North Korea and China,” Klingner analyzed.

In addition, Klingner pointed out a major failure of the US in not applying “secondary sanctions” against Chinese companies that do business with North Korea. “The US administration has not imposed sanctions on Chinese entities that violate sanctions in the sincere belief that China will do more than it has done before,” Klingner said. This is the weakness that critics have aimed at the US administration.

Medical staff and family members welcomed Otto at the airport. Photo: AP

In response to the incident, the US government is considering banning US citizens from traveling to North Korea to prevent similar incidents. This is also considered a further punitive action to further isolate North Korea. However, this is not the right choice when considering the strategy of forcing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and come to the negotiating table.

In fact, the “dilemma” is the situation that the Donald Trump administration is facing. On the one hand, it must meet public demand for tough measures to respond to the arrest and death of an American citizen. On the other hand, it must maintain pressure, while not “angering” North Korea, and most importantly, maintaining communication and cooperation with China on this issue. And public opinion believes that it is very difficult to meet these two demands at the same time.

The current situation also shows very slow progress, even deadlock in the solution for North Korea that the White House is applying. In that context, any incident or adverse reaction on the Korean peninsula will also cause "waves" for the administration of President Donald Trump.

Thanh Son