PRESS RELEASE

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Perry Stresses Need for Dialogue To Solve North Korea Problem

Aug. 11, 2017 (EIRNS)—Xinhua sought out former Defense Secretary William Perry who told them that it is important to have a high-level dialogue as soon as possible between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.). It is truly vital for the two countries to

"conduct a serious negotiation aimed at bringing peace to the peninsula and bringing a non-nuclear peninsula into being as soon as possible,"

Perry said in an interview that was published on Aug. 9. "Sanctions in theory can be effective, but in practice usually are not," said Perry. "The six-party talks has a great merit involving all of the countries that are most concerned about the issue," said Perry, 89, who visited the D.P.R.K. as President Clinton’s special envoy in 1999. "We need partnership to put together an effective, really effective diplomacy," said Perry. He endorsed the double freeze proposal put forth by China and Russia, saying that it "would at least keep the nuclear dangers from getting worse," he said.

Perry also noted that it is important for the concerned parties to understand the D.P.R.K.’s priority concern. As long as the D.P.R.K. feels threatened by the United States, it will feel obliged to move to nuclear weapons, Perry said. "The goal is giving each side the reasonable assurance that their security is not threatened," he said. "There’s no reason for the United States to even have troops" in South Korea if the D.P.R.K. would be no longer seen as a threat by South Korea, he added.