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(U) Ambassador Wendy Sherman Speaks on North Korea
FROM: SIGINT Communications
Unknown
Run Date: 05/04/2004
FROM: SIGINT Communications
Unknown
(U) Ambassador Wendy Sherman spoke in the Friedman Auditorium on April 27, on the topic
"North Korea, Iran, and Beyond: Where in the World Are We?" Having served as Special Advisor
to the President and Secretary of State and North Korea Policy Coordinator in the Clinton
Administration, Ambassador Sherman is especially knowledgeable on the subject of North Korea.
She was, in fact, one of the principal negotiators of the 1994 Agreed Framework that sought to
prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.
(U) Ambassador Sherman gave her assessment of how the North Korean leadership views the
world right now. She noted that they were following events in Iraq very attentively, and
undoubtedly recognized the "awesome" military power of the U.S. However, rather than
aborting their nuclear development plans for fear of U.S. military action, Ambassador Sherman
believed that they had taken the opposite lesson: that a state without a nuclear capability would
always be vulnerable to attack.
(U) She noted that North Korea had seen how Iran and Pakistan were successfully avoiding
punishment for their nuclear development efforts, and felt encouraged by this. In addition, for
various reasons, the North Koreans did not feel threatened by the U.S., China or South Korea at
this time. As a result, she believed they would continue their nuclear program, and may in fact
have already succeeded in developing such a weapon. Ambassador Sherman predicted that the
U.S. would not seriously reengage with the North Koreans on the issue until after the U.S.
presidential elections.
(U) Ambassador Sherman noted that SIGINT on the issue was "absolutely indispensable" and
"critical for arms control and verification," and she thanked NSA for its contributions in that
regard.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108