How to Negotiate with North Korea

This article evaluates the February 13th agreement at the 2007 six-party talks that officially is known as "Initial Actions for the Implementation of the Joint Statement." The agreement's effectiveness is evaluated based on the negotiating and behavioral styles of both Washington and Pyongyang. This article shows that in the pre-negotiation phase, Washington's Graduated Reciprocation in Tension-reduction strategies were more effective than the well-known Tit-for-Tat strategies to induce North Korea to engage in the six-party talks. I also show that principled negotiation strategies were effectively applied, and that the weak Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement led the two countries to reach an agreement. Finally, this article demonstrates that several strategic provisions were added in the post-negotiation phase in order to secure the fulfillment of the agreement.