WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A nuclear arms reduction program between the United States and Russia could be applied to North Korea's nuclear weapons, according to a new report.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies in cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment Friday issued the report on cooperative threat reduction and North Korea.
Joel Wit of CSIS said a CTR program "would enhance the chances of a peaceful settlement by adding incentives to North Korea in the context of the six party talks." The Nunn-Lugar program with Russia provided financial and technical assistance in dismantling nuclear programs and redirecting the scientists and resources involved in them. The report recommends a multilateral approach to such a program with North korea so that the Russian experience could be deployed.
Leon Sigal of the Social Science Research Council said the dismantlement of North Korean nuclear weapons requires reciprocal steps from the U.S. government.
"Unless the United States is playing, North Korea won't play."
A CTR program could offer a controlled process for that to take place with assistance tightly linked to cooperative steps from North Korea.
The report also addressed how to deal with North Korea's chemical and biological weapons programs.
