Conflict Management

The North Korean Crisis

 The Prelude
• In 1945, After WWII ended the Korea was
divided into two parts along 38’ parallel line
by USSR & USA.

38’ Parallel
 The Korean War
• June 1950, North Korea invades South Korea.
• Evolution of The Domino Theory.
• America Joins the war and fights North Korea.
• Truman Doctrine; The war turns into Capitalist Vs
Socialist fight.
 The Korean War
• The defensive war for America turns into an offensive
one.

• October 1950, China joins North Korea.

• 1951-52, North Korea and South Korea in stalemate.
• July 1953, armistice signed and fighting stops.
 The Present Crisis
Nuclear Development
• In 1990, North Korea became member of IAEA
• In 1993 left IAEA
• In 2002 declared that they have nuclear weapons
• In 2003 withdrew from the NPT
• In 2006, successfully tested their nuclear weapon for
the first time
• In 2009 and 2013 ran nuclear tests.
• In 2016 successfully tested hydrogen bomb which is
1000 times stronger than neutrino bombs.
 The Present Crisis
Nuclear Development
• North Korea already had short and mid-ranged missiles like
SCUD, Nodong, Musadan which can hit South Korea, Japan
and the US fleet at Guam.
• These missiles can deliver nuclear bomb at the desired target.
Musadan
Taepodong-2

SCUD
Nodong
 The Present Crisis
Nuclear Development
• In 2017, they developed their first ICBM
Hwasong-14 which can reach Alaska!
 The Present Crisis
Nuclear Development
 Is it a Global Crisis???
• The implication of Korean crisis reaches far
beyond Korean peninsula.
• South Korea and Japan might try to gain
nuclear weapons for their own protection.
• Nuclear arm race can break out which will
destabilize the whole world order and peace.
 Strategy 1
Change the Culture and
Context of Conflict
 Change the Culture and
Context of Conflict

• The North Korean issue has been there since the last
century. Efforts from many of the US leaders failed
utterly while South Korea and China has remained
calm and only having an careful eye on the situation
not involving themselves in the conflict directly.
• Lack of openness, clarity and honesty especially from
the DPRK side has made the problem even worse
over the decades, however there is still hope that
this can be resolved for once and for all.
 The language of conflict

• In recent days, the conflict has become even worse

only because of the harsh words used by both the
leaders shaming each other personally. This can and
should be stopped immediately as this is clearly
leading both the parties to even a worse dimension.
• Being positive and respectful towards each other and
not taking things personally are the steps they should
take right now as this involves millions of innocents
lives and the peace of the entire world.
 Conflict as War

• Unfortunately this problem has always been

addressed as a war. Both US and DPRK has taken
every opportunity to show off their military and
trade power. DPRK has openly announced their
strength in nuclear zone and US has continuously put
trade bans on DPRK, made the situation even bitter
over the decades.
• To add to that, Donald Trump has attack personally
Kim Un in a series of twits which made the conflict
more personal between the leaders ever than before.
 Conflict as Opportunity

• This entire conflict could be an opportunity to

resolve all the other issues in the entire Korean
peninsula including the political correctness, trade
between both the Koreas, border conflicts which
eventually can bring stability and peace in the entire
region.
• Positive attitude and an effort to build trust
could get most of the job done. However, it
can be done even now.
 Conflict as Journey
• Nuclear practice has become a threat to the peace of
the entire world. The resolution of the North Korean
issue could lead to realization that it is time we care for
each other instead of trying to control each other. And
Nuclear weapon has no place in a civilized world where
most of the conflicts can be resolved through words.
• The resolution of DPRK issue can bring a political and
economic stability in this region in the long run, it can
be the beginning of a journey where the goal is to
establish a peaceful and poverty free world.
 Strategy 2
Listen Actively, Empathetically, and
Responsively
 Listen Actively, Empathetically
and Responsively
To make the communication more effective at this state
both North Korea and US should take the following steps:
• Step One: Let go of their own ideas, roles, and agendas
and try to understand what the other person is saying.
• Step two: Search behind the words for the other
person’s meaning, especially if he or she disagrees with
you.
• Step three: Respond respectfully an non-defensively,
acknowledging and addressing the other person’s
concerns first.
 Strategy 3
Acknowledge and Integrate Emotions
to Solve Problems
 Acknowledge and Integrate Emotions
to Solve Problems

Emotional emotions can be of 3 ways:

• Constructive or destructive
• Positive or negative
• Pleasurable or enjoyable
Unfortunately, in the North Korea conflict it has always been put
negatively which has worsen the crisis instead of soling it.
• Emotional intelligence can and should be used from both the leaders
US and DPRK which they have utterly failed to do so far; especially
Donald Trump who has failed to remain calm and rational like Bush
and Obama in several matters and made things more personal.
• Also Donald Trump and Kim Un has used words and expressions which
were the least rational and more of expressing their personal rage
towards each other forgetting that the entire region and its future is
involved with it.
 Strategy 4

Search beneath the Surface for

Hidden Meaning
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning

We follow the iceberg

metaphor from the USA’s Issues

perspective and try to dig Personalities

deeper into the conflict Emotions

and it’s true nature. Interest, Needs, Desires

Self-Perceptions and Self-Esteem

Hidden Expectations

Unresolved Issues from the Past

 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Issues:
• What issues appear on the surface in your conflict?
-North Korea is developing weapons of mass
destruction.
• What issues lie beneath the surface that neither of
you are discussing?
-North Korea and the US do not trust each other at all.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Personalities:
• Are differences between your personalities contributing to
misunderstanding and tension?
-Yes. In this case the two countries have very different type of
personalities.
• If so, what are they, and how do they operate?
-The differences are very much visible as USA is a democratic
country, one of the super powers and the most dominating
nation in the world right now. North Korea is a country of
military dictatorship, fragile economy suffering due to the
sanctions imposed by the US and the allies and also the UN.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Emotions:
• What emotions are having an impact on your reactions?
-The emotion that is having the most impact is fear.
• How are they doing so?
- Fear of a nuclear war, fear of nuclear catastrophe and fear of nuclear arms
race breaking out.
• Are you communicating your emotions responsibly, or are you
distorting or suppressing them?
-No, USA is not communicating its emotions to DPRK responsibly. Rather it
is suppressing them and showing aggression as if they are not scared at
all by DPRK and their leader Kim Jong Un.
• What emotions is your opponent experiencing?
-Opponent also fears that US and his allies might try to overthrow Kim any
time and also declare war against them.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Interests, Needs, Desire:
• How are you proposing to solve the conflict?
-USA wants DPRK to completely stop their nuclear program.
• Why is that your proposal?
-This is USA’s proposal because it doesn’t want world peace to shatter and
wants to avoid nuclear war.
• What do you really want? Why do you want it?
-USA really wants to completely neutralize DPRK in the Korean peninsula and
stop military dictatorship if possible. USA wants that because any military
communist nation is a threat to USA and it has been that way since Second
World War.
• What does getting what you want have to do with the way you are
communicating?
-USA is trying to create pressure on DPRK because all other methods have
already failed. This is sort of a Last measure for USA.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Self-Perceptions and Self-Esteem:
• How do you feel about yourself and your behavior when you are engaged in
conflicts?
-USA feels that DPRK is trying to undermine the way it is perceived by the rest of the
world. DPRK is sending out a message that “if you have nuclear power, you do not
need to care what the world leaders think”
• What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses?
-USA’s strength is military power as well as the strong allies it has created since Second
World War. The weakness is that it has failed to resolve conflicts in peaceful terms in
most cases.
• Is any part of the conflict connected to your sense of self-esteem?
-Yes, USA thinks that DPRK is undermining them.
• If you were completely self-confident, would your opponent’s behaviors bother you?
-If USA was fully self-confident, DPRK’s behaviors would not bother them, but they have
insecurities. Insecurities about any attack on US soil as well as failure to protect is
allies in the pacific.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Hidden expectations:
• What are your primary expectations of your opponent? Of yourself?
-USA expects that DPRK stops their nuclear program right away and become member of IAEA.
USA would provide economic support that DPRK needs and will try to be non-aggressive to
DPRK. But deep inside USA also wants to get rid of military dictatorship and create another
ally in the Korean peninsula which will be a big blow to the Chinese Belt and road initiative.
• Are your expectations realistic?
-USA’s expectations are not realistic. It is close to impossible to overthrow Kim Jong Un like they
did with Gaddafi.
• Have you clearly, openly, and honestly communicated your expectations to your
opponent? What would happen if you did?
-No, the USA would never be honest about its intentions because that would just create more
enmity.
• How might you release yourself from your own unrealistic expectations?
-Only way to release this unrealistic expectation would be to understand the reality that cannot
be changed right away. USA might succeed in the long run but right now they have to
accept that DPRK will be a country run by military dictator. If the Chinese government helps
USA to impose sanction on DPRK, USA might stop the aggressive behavior that it has been
expressing a lot lately.
 Search beneath the Surface for
Hidden Meaning
Unresolved issues from the past:
• Does this conflict remind you of anything from your past?
-Yes, the USA had sever casualties in the Korean war which showed that even
a small country like DPRK can provide a big blow to the mighty US.
• Are there any unresolved or unfinished issues from the past that are
keeping you locked in this conflict? Why?
-In the Korean War only an armistice was signed, not a treaty. So DPRK can
actually attack on South Korea anytime. And if they do, a strong message
will be send to the world that USA can no longer give protection to its
allies.
• What would it take for you to let them go?
-USA might let go of them if a permanent non aggression treaty was signed
by DPRK not to invade US allies and also leave the nuclear program.
 Strategy 5

Separate What Matters from

What Gets In the Way
 Separate What Matters from
What Gets In the Way

• When Americans have asked whether any

combination of economic and diplomatic
benefits, or security guarantees, could induce
Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons, the
answer has been NO.

• The Kim dynasty believes their only option for

security is to have proven nuclear capabilities.
 Separate What Matters from
What Gets In the Way
• They saw Libyan dictator Muhammad Gaddafi
negotiate with the US and give up his nuclear
program only to be killed by US backed rebels.
 Separate Position from Interest

• The easiest way to separate positions from

interests in a conflict is to ask opponent why
he or she has taken a given position.
• From US perspective, they always thought
they know the reason.
• James Clapper, the former director of National
Intelligence, who visited Pyongyang in 2014,
said, “The North Koreans are not going to give
up their nuclear weapons. It’s a non-starter.”
 Separate Position from Interest

• “Whether it’s pressuring, threatening,

negotiating, or trying to leverage China,
everybody’s tried all of that—and it’s not
working,” Clapper also added.

• But question remains, did US ever try to know

or care about North Korea’s reasoning or
persistence on their role in this conflict?
 Separate People from Problems

• Only by recognizing opponents as

multifaceted human beings, and at the same
time refusing to accept or condone the part of
what they are doing that we find unacceptable
will help us to find the true nature of conflict.
• Both Trump and Kim exchanged some nasty
words to each other.
Separate People from Problems
 Separate Problems from Solutions

• A Research on problem solving indicates that

the effectiveness of solutions increases 85%
once the true problem has been identified.
But this particular case is different because
this is not a problem between two parties
rather it has far greater implications reaching
from geo-political issues to regional securities.
 Separate the Future from the Past

• In every conflict, the past weighs heavily on the

present. This is also true for North Korean Crisis.
• Trump is the fourth U.S. President who has
vowed to put an end to North Korea’s nuclear
program.
• Bill Clinton signed a deal in which North Korea
agreed to freeze its nuclear development in
exchange for oil and a civilian reactor, but
neither side fulfilled its commitments.
 Separate the Future from the Past

• George W. Bush refused bilateral negotiations,

then switched tacks and convened what are
known as the Six-Party Talks.
• Obama first offered inducements, and later
adopted a stonewalling policy called “strategic
patience.”
• Under Trump, the U.S. has led the U.N. Security
Council in its passage of the eighth round of
sanctions against North Korea in eleven years. But
Kim’s’ nuclear program is still going.
 Separate the Future from the Past

• So in this scenario, hanging on to the past is

not a good way to move forward.
• Both parties have to let go of what harm they
did to each other, starting from the Korean
war till today.
• World leaders also must come together
leaving all the differences aside to solve this
issue once and for all.
 Strategy 6

Stop Rewarding & Learn from

Difficult Behaviors
 Stop Rewarding & Learn from
Difficult Behaviors
There are 3 main ways of defining the problem
of a conflicted relationship with opponent.
These consist of:
1. Identifying the problem as a Difficult Person,
2. A Difficult Personality, or
3. As a Difficult Behavior.
 Stop Rewarding & Learn from
Difficult Behaviors
• All of us are aware about the personality of the
statesman of North Korea crisis. They are very
difficult person as well in their own way. The
main focus should be on the action; not on the
persons or the personality of related persons.
• Shifting the focus from blaming to problem
solving and address others’ difficult behaviors
by changing the way he or she responds to
them
 Stop Rewarding & Learn from
Difficult Behaviors
• We have to stop rewarding negative
behaviors.
• But George W. Bush quietly swallowed
Pyongyang’s successful explosion of an atom
bomb.
• Barack Obama met North Korea’s subsequent
nuclear tests and missile launches with
strategic patience which can viewed as
rewarding difficult behaviors.
 Stop Rewarding & Learn from
Difficult Behaviors
• China is North Korea’s most important ally and
largest trading partner, accounting for 90% of its
foreign trade. The isolated country exported $2.3bn
in goods to China.
• So if China wants to exert economic pressure on
North Korea, they are capable of doing so. But they
are actually rewarding
North Korea.
 Stop Rewarding & Learn from
Difficult Behaviors
• War in the korean peninsula will be a threat to
China too, but China keeps on rewarding DPRK
just so that they remain ally to neighboring
country.
• China is avoiding engaging in current conflict
as it is not a problem for them right now, but
they are forgetting sooner or later they would
have to engage in it for their own safety.
 Strategy 7

Solve Problems Creatively, Plan

Strategically and Negotiate
Collaboratively
 Creative problem solving

Creative problem solving demands 3 things to

begin with:
1. Openness to all the possible problem
solving options
2. Involve all the parties and negotiate
collaboratively
3. Decide how the problem will be solved
 Openness towards all possible solutions

• Donald Trump needs to accept that North Korea has

the rights to speak their interest.
• Both the leaders need to realize that it is not
personal at all and involves the lives of millions of
innocent people.
• North Korea needs to show that they want a
resolution and they can explain their plans how they
would like to negotiate with the international
community instead of being headstrong and stick to
their self-satisfying nuke projects.
 Collaborative approach

• US needs to involve the regional allies to make a

strategy to negotiate with NK.
• UN can be and should be involved process.
• The guidelines and process of negotiation should be
made jointly by the North Korea and the US & allies
(Japan, China and South Korea need to be the core
part of the process).
• Trust plays a vital role in collaborative negotiation;
positive attitude, openness and honesty is necessary
to build trust.
 How to solve the problem!

• Start with the origination of the North Korea conflict and how it
expand over the decades.
• Consider the interests of all parties involved and be honest about
it; consider that millions of innocent lives are involved.
• Stop complaining and accusing each other. US and NK leaders
need to stop using harsh words towards each other.
• US and NK should stop showing off their military power and damn
care attitude.
• As Einstein said, “Our problems cannot be solved with the same
level of thinking that created them“ - shows that we need to think
differently than ever before to resolve this century long conflict.
 5 steps of creative problem solving

• Step one: US and South Korea have been dealing with

it since the beginning, now all the international
communities have to come up and accept that it is a
problem for the entire globe and they all should work
together to resolve it permanently.
• Step two: the involved parties should define the
problem, explain their interests and what they want
for themselves to resolve the conflict.
• Step three: they should analyze the current situation
to prioritize the most intense problems.
 5 steps of creative problem solving

• Step four: Coming up with all the possible

solutions considering the interests of all the
parties. Ensuring a win-win solution for the
parties.
• Step five: everyone needs to put their honest
efforts to make the strategies work in order to
solve the problem. And also, need to keep in
mind that the resolution sustains in the long
run.
 Strategy 8

Explore Resistance, Mediate, and

Design System for Prevention and
Resolution
 Explore Resistance, Mediate, and Design System
for Prevention and Resolution

The sustainability of the resolution of the NK conflict depends on a

number of things:
• South Korea, Japan and China’s relation with the North Korea.
• The shift in the attitude of US and NK towards each other.
• How North Korea shows respects to rest of the world and the
peace of the world.
• If US accepts the nuclear practice of NK and to what extent.
• Whether NK is ready to limit its Nuke act ivies if not shut them
off forever.
• US needs to assure that NK and its leaders will remain safe
afterwards and will not face the fate of Gaddafi.
 Explore Resistance, Mediate, and Design System
for Prevention and Resolution

The crucial points that are required to be agreed upon

from both the sides are:
• The armistice signed in the 90s to ceasefire needs to
completed as a treaty to prevent any kind of war
between the two Koreas in the future.
• UN and the world needs to accept that, North Korea is
an independent nation and they have the right to
enjoy the sovereignty just like rest of the nations.
• South Korea, China and Japan need to remain friendly
with North Korea so that NK do not feel threatened.
 Explore Resistance, Mediate, and Design System
for Prevention and Resolution

• North Korea has to be given the right to trade with rest of

the world without any barrier. All the sanctions has to be
withdrawn.
• North Korea needs to be a member of IAEA and can only use
their nuclear activities for welfare purposes (such as power
generation and research) not for making Nuclear weapons.
And IAEA will have the authority to supervise that.
• North Korea will abide by the general rules from the UN,
IAEA and other global organization in order to ensure
human rights, freedom of speech for its people and other
greater global interests.
THANK YOU