Opinion: The U.S. should lead by example on North Korea and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

To the editor: We should try talks with North Korea starting by getting that country to stop nuclear testing. (“North Korea’s nukes call for concerted action, not loose talk,” editorial, Sept. 6)

Every nuclear test by North Korea brings its regime closer to perfecting a weapon that could reach American soil. But if we engage the North on ending nuclear tests, we not only halt that progress, but also open the door for more agreements.

The United States, North Korea and China should together ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear test explosions. The United States and China have not tested nuclear weapons for decades and have no need to, so ratification should be relatively simple.

The three nations could then take part in on-site inspection exercises, which treaty members regularly practice. That experience can build the confidence for peace and more agreements that could lead to ending North Korea’s nuclear program.

Diplomacy can still work, but you have to work at it. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty gives us this opportunity to resolve the North Korean crisis peacefully. We should take it.

William Lambers, Cincinnati

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To the editor: The only alternative to war with North Korea is the United States ending all trade with China if it continues to prop up Kim Jong Un’s regime.

China alone is responsible for permitting this rogue regime to starve its people and build hydrogen bombs, and it’s China’s responsibility to prevent a potential nuclear holocaust. We Americans must be prepared to see our economy take a hit, one that will be costly and disruptive. A point has been reached where the options are only bad and worse, and we must choose bad.

China isn’t the enemy, but it is the key. We should demonstrate to the Chinese through our willingness to take this drastic economic step that the Kim regime must go. There is no peaceful alternative to this strategy.

If China still refuses to end its support of North Korea, then it must be prepared to accept a nuclear-armed Japan, a nuclear-armed South Korea and, eventually, war on the Korean peninsula.

Joseph Charney, South Pasadena

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To the editor: It might be time for the world’s major powers to take a different approach to North Korea.

Since Kim possesses nuclear weapons and shows no signs of giving them up, perhaps the U.S. and other nuclear powers should say this: “OK, North Korea, you’ve done it. You are one of us; you are a nuclear power. Welcome to the club. Now, please join us in sharing responsibility for the fate of the world.”

It seems to me that this is what North Korea wants — to be treated with respect. Why continue to treat it like a misbehaving child who has run off with the family car without permission? Why not instead allow North Korea to actually be one of the grown-ups?

The established powers might not like the idea initially, but the facts suggest that this is what must be done. It is time now to keep the world safe in whatever way possible.

Karl Lisovsky, Venice

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