Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis [Hardcover]

Joel S. Wit (Author), Daniel Poneman (Author), Robert L. Gallucci (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

In this book, three former US officials who played key roles in the 1994 crisis trace the intense efforts that led North Korea to freeze - and pledge to ultimately dismantle - its dangerous plutonium production programme, while avoiding a second Korean War. Drawing on internal government documents, memoranda, cables and notes, the authors chronicle the complex web of diplomacy - from Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing to Geneva, Moscow and Vienna and back again - that led to the negotiation of an Agreed Framework to resolve the nuclear dispute between the United States and North Korea. They also explore the challenge of striking the right balance among the military, economic and diplomatic instruments employed to persuade North Korea to accept significant constraints on its nuclear activities, while deterring rather than provoking a violent North Korean response.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a comprehensive insider's guide to the first North Korean nuclear standoff. . . an essential tool. . ." -- Scott Snyder, Foreign Affairs

"[S]ure to captivate North Korea specialists and general readers alike." -- The New York Times, July 20, 2004

About the Author

Joel S. Wit is a senior fellow with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served for 15 years in the Department of State and was coordinator for the 1994 U.S.–North Korea Agreed Framework..

Daniel B. Poneman is a principal in The Scowcroft Group. He served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, including nearly four years as special assistant to the President for nonproliferation.

Robert L. Gallucci is dean of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He led the team that negotiated the Agreed Framework and served in a variety of posts in the Department of State for over twenty years, including assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and ambassador-at-large.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 474 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815793863
• ISBN-13: 978-0815793861
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,940,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons for the present and future, May 15, 2004

By 

Don Oberdorfer (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis (Hardcover)

The three authors of Going Critical were important members of the U.S. team that negotiated the Agreed Framework with North Korea in 1993-94. Rather than considering the accord a failure because the DPRK ultimately undertook a secret uranium enrichment project, the authors argue persuasively that their handiwork postponed North Korean production of plutonium for eight years - from 1994 to 2002 - at relatively low cost to the U.S. and the international community.
The most important aspect of the book is not argument, however, but information. The authors give us a detailed, play-by-play account of U.S. decisions and actions in the negotiations with North Korea, going well beyond anything previously available. I wrote my own account of the DPRK nuclear program and the Agreed Framework negotiations in 63 pages in my book, The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. Authors Wit, Poneman and Gallucci devote 408 pages to these developments, including a good deal of inside information that was previously unavailable. Outsiders, including historians, can continue to debate whether the U.S. negotiating team should have made the compromises it did in order to reach an agreement with North Korea. Now, at least, they can have some solid facts to undergird their opinions.
This is a major contribution to contemporary history. Beyond this, the final chapter includes lessons learned, as the authors apply them, for present and future dealings with North Korea regarding its dangerous and destabilizing nuclear weapons programs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their hard-hitting analysis of the current crisis in Korea, September 8, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis (Hardcover)

Is a second Korean War looming on the horizon? Most likely, unless North Korea can be deterred from its ongoing campaigns, say Joel S. Wit, Daniel Poneman and Robert Gallucci in Going Critical. Their hard-hitting analysis of the current crisis in Korea includes a studied history of diplomatic and political events of the past, exploring the challenges of hard negotiations with North Korea to date. From cabinet meetings in Washington to Geneva talks and North Korean associations with China, Going Critical is a 'must' for any who would understand the latest issues and their ongoing implications for a nuclear crisis.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Review of US Negotiations with North Korea, November 19, 2006

By 

Paul Marc Oliu (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis (Hardcover)

I picked "Going Critical" because of our current state of affairs and our own internal debate as tto how to effectively deal with North Korea. Their are many issues and items the book highlights, most importantly being how enigmatic, unpredictable and paranoid North Korea was during the 1990's. I suspect that the level of paranoia has only increased in light of the current US position toward the regime of Kim Jong Il.

It is striking how many nations, in particular Japan and s. Korea, most European nations, and to a lesser extent China and Russia are inclined to keep North Korea in a box, without Nuclear Weapons. The issue is the delicate balance of preventing Pyongyang from going nuclear without making them move their million man army across the 38th.

If you are into the inside baseball of diplomatic neotiations, this is certainly a book for you.