A possible solution in the U. S. conflict with North Korea is to encourage Japan to rearm in the face of nuclear threat from the communist nation, former Secretary of State George Schultz '42 said in a lecture Friday. The event was part of a two-day conference "National Sovereignty and International Institutions" sponsored by the James Madison Program for American Ideals and Institutions.
Schultz said the U.S. is slowly exhausting diplomatic options.
"There have been sanctions, there has been diplomacy, there have been material inducements, which are essentially bribes," Schultz said, and none of these, he claimed, have worked. "So North Korea now has nuclear weapons of mass destruction...and we now have very few options."
Encouraging Japan to arm, Schultz said, will make China fearful of Japan's new armament and move China to pressure North Korea to disarm.
Continuing to employ material inducement will be to no avail, Schultz said.
"We know they violate their agreements," he said. "So their agreements are not worth paying for."
Such thinking outside of the box —characteristic of Schultz' service in the Reagan administration, when his foreign policy is said to have been instrumental in ending the Cold War —is key in foreign policy, Schultz said.
"I've always felt, in my public career particularly, and in private industry as well, that if you get the ideas right, then your tactical implementation of them is going to work out," he said.
Schultz also discussed ways the U.S. should deal with terrrorism. He said that one prevalent attitude, to take a defensive stand, is a dangerous one to have. He compared it to a standoff in old western movies.
"The sheriff doesn't draw until the outlaw draws. But the sheriff is quicker. So the outlaw draws, and the sheriff — bam — gets him in one move," Shultz said, "And we do not want to be in that situation."
In the 90s, Schultz said, the U.S. knew about Osama bin-Laden and the Al-Qaeda network, but did nothing before Sept. 11th.
"So just not doing anything about terrorism," said Shultz, "is not going to work." Schultz said that in order to counter terrorism and the destructive effects of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. must use preventative policies.
After Operation Iraqi Freedom, Shultz said he would like to see Iraq fall into the hands of legitimate Iraqi leaders and he is hopeful the vast oil revenues will no longer be funneled towards the central government for things that do not help the Iraqi people at all.
Schultz also discussed some issues much closer to home, focusing on some campus issues.
Schultz praised the Honor Code, saying it teaches standards of importance.
"The atmosphere of the honor system says to you, 'it's not just what you learn in your head, it's what you learn in your gut that matters,'" he said.
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