Trump-Kim Summit: A Disarmament Checklist

These are the steps that should be taken to ensure denuclearization and disarmament of North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Investigate the DPRK’s missile inventory, infrastructure, and missile development capabilities.

  • Identify missile component supply chain, manufacture and assembly facilities, test infrastructure, and storage locations.
  • Review designs and interview scientific and engineering staff to accurately determine status of the DPRK’s missile development and assess the DPRK’s indigenous missile development capabilities. 
  • Identify external suppliers and expertise that enabled the DPRK to develop its missile capability.
  • Identify key personnel in the DPRK’s missile development program.
  • Assess the DPRK’s missile component testing capabilities and review data to assess the accurate status of its ability to develop missiles indigenously.

Destroy the DPRK’s missile inventory, infrastructure, and missile development capabilities.

  • The United States or South Korea (formally known as the Republic of Korea or ROK) witnesses the destruction of deployed, stored, and in-production missiles and their components.
  • The United States or ROK witnesses the destruction of all mobile launchers and fixed missile launch pads.
  • The United States or ROK witnesses the destruction of stockpiles of missile fuel (IFRNA, aluminum perchlorate, etc.) and all aircraft-grade aluminum.
  • Destruction of all printed copies and submission of all technical drawings and source code documents for the manufacture and operation of missiles.
  • Destruction of all testing telemetry, test launch control, and tracking infrastructure.

Create an inspection regimen to ensure the United States or ROK access to monitor compliance.

  • Unlimited, unannounced inspections at all sites where missiles components could be manufactured, tested, and stored.
  • Inspection at ports of entry to detect import of contraband materials and components.
  • Ban the import of missile fuels and aircraft-grade aluminum.

LTG (retired) Patrick O’Reilly is a nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

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Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 16, 2017. (KCNA via Reuters)