Ex-Trump official calls IAEA chief's remark on N.K. nukes 'dicey question'

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- A former U.S. national security advisor on Monday described the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief's recent call for recognizing the North's possession of nuclear arms as a "dicey question," warning Seoul and Tokyo might want to get their own should Pyongyang acquire the recognition.

Robert O'Brien, who served as national security advisor for former President Donald Trump from 2019-2021, made the remarks, reaffirming that the U.S. goal is "denuclearization."

In an interview with the Associated Press published last week, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called for the world to recognize the North's nuclear arsenal and pursue dialogue with the recalcitrant regime. He claimed that the North already became a "de facto nuclear weapon possessor state" in 2006.

"Why wouldn't Japan and South Korea and others not want to get their own nuclear weapons at that point if you recognize North Korea as a nuclear country and start treating (it) in arms control the way you would (with) Russia and China?," he said. "So it's a dicey question."

He was attending a forum hosted by the TriForum, a nonprofit organization aimed at enhancing trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

O'Brien laid out some scenarios in the event of North Korea's nuclear weapons becoming a "fact of life."

"So the question is, if the IAEA chairman's right, and nuclear weapons are now a fact of life in North Korea ... shouldn't we have something in play to have arms control talks looking for reduction in nuclear weapons -- the kind of the traditional arms control model for North Korea?," he said.

"Or maybe you are not going to get them to give up their nukes, but you can get them to have only a certain type of nuclear weapons. They're going to reduce the number of nuclear weapons or to allow international inspectors," he added.

He affirmed the denuclearization goal when asked about concerns that America's focus on North Korea could shift to non-proliferation to denuclearization should Trump return to office.

"Now, how we convince them to give up their nukes is going to be very tough," he said.

"We should keep trying to do it because we don't want to have this proliferation happen where the Iranians get a nuke and then the Saudis get a nuke, and the Turks get a nuke, and in Asia, the nuclear program becomes open and notorious, and North Korea is accepted as nuclear power."

The Kim regime wants to keep nuclear weapons for regime survival, he noted, saying it is like a "mafia family."

"(North Koreans) look at Ukraine giving up their nuclear weapons and what happened to them. They look at Gaddafi (who) gave up his weapons of mass destruction, but didn't end well," he said, referring to the ill-fated Libyan leader who died in 2011.

O'Brien also shared Trump's remarks praising South Korean female golfers' winning streaks in the U.S.

"He goes, 'Have you watched South Korean golfers? The women won every tournament by a lot. Down the stretch, they never miss a putt'" he said. "Then he goes, 'They are killers. Those South Korean women golfers, they kill Kim Jong-un (in negotiations)' ... So the president had a lot of respect for the career golfers on the LPGA and deservedly so."

Mentioning America's network of alliances in the Indo-Pacific as America's asset to help outcompete China, O'Brien voiced his hope for the expansion of the Quad grouping consisting of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia.

"I would love to see the Quad expanded to have Seoul as part of that type called the Quint or something. We can't call it Five Eyes ... We call it five guys maybe," he said.

Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprised of the U.S., Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

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