December 6, 2017 – Robert Alvarez on the catastrophe of the Korean War – Episode 4562

Robert Alvarez joins Scott to discuss his latest article for CommonDreams.org “Korea: End the 67-Year War.” According to Alvarez there’s no political will on either side to end the war—instead, the United States believes tensions between the two countries further U.S. national interests. Alvarez explains why he doesn’t believe that the North Korean nuclear threat is as significant as it’s been portrayed. He then takes on the argument that North Korea serves as a convenient excuse for the U.S. to exert its power and control over the region. Scott asks: “if the U.S. made nice with Mao Zedong, why can’t they do it with Kim?”

Alvarez then returns to his days in the Department of Energy in 1994 when he traveled to North Korea to help hammer out the Agreed Framework. Alvarez describes the progress the Clinton administration made with North Korea, before George W. Bush unraveled all the progress in the aftermath of 9/11. Scott then asks Alvarez about the debate about North Korea’s uranium enrichment program—did they have one, and if so, what was it used for? The two then discuss the horrors of the Korean War, which, counter to popular belief was a catastrophic failure.

Robert Alvarez is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. He served as a senior policy adviser in the Department of Energy from 1993 to 1999.

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