Dear Network Members and Colleagues,

This week, we feature APLN’s Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Plus project on how to adapt the Nunn-Lugar CTR program to the DPRK. Through a series of Track 1.5 workshops, special reports, and a final synthesis report published this week, the APLN project assessed multilateral and multisectoral approaches to engaging with the DPRK, including on energy and public health. This offers a pragmatic means for confidence-building, laying the groundwork for future diplomacy and the eventual denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

The APLN wishes to thank the ROK Ministry of Unification, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the MacArthur Foundation for their generous support for this project.

Energy: Energy insecurity has been an important driver of the DPRK nuclear weapons program. Cooperative projects in the energy sector and energy-intensive projects in other sectors will help address DPRK’s energy insecurity.

Chemical: The United States and the DPRK should cooperate on chemical weapons disposal modelled on initiatives such as the China-Japan cooperative chemical weapons disposal program.

Nuclear: Following a US-DPRK agreement to freeze DPRK’s nuclear program and declare its uranium enrichment activities, the United States and the ROK should assist the DPRK with converting its nuclear and space infrastructure to civilian use.

Public Health: The DPRK should be encouraged to join the ROK-led Northeast Asia Cooperation for Health Security (NEACHS). Research exchanges with the DPRK’s bioresearch facilities would improve biosecurity and could be modeled on the International Science and Technology Center.

Space Cooperation: The DPRK should recommit to its moratorium on long-range testing of ballistic missiles in exchange for US/ROK-provided satellite data for weather and disaster monitoring, and resource exploration.

Sanctions: The UNSC permanent members should make a careful assessment of partial sanctions relief for the DPRK.