Use Rob Quist to engage North Korea with diplomacy

The situation with North Korea vs. the Trump administration isn’t getting any better. We need to engage the country in other ways than the big stick.

No atomic bomb has ever been delivered by an ICBM. Aircraft or ground transportation have positioned these incredible explosives. They can do that already, if hostilities break out.

President Harry Truman, flush with the expansion of executive branch power during World War Two, declared that he would commit our armed forces to Korea without a declaration of war by Congress, as required by Art 1, Sec 8, Subsec. 11 of the U.S. Constitution. This was the first breach of the separation of powers and the end of declarations of war. President Trump has shown initiative in engaging Vladimir Putin and has said he would be honored to meet with Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea. Do it. Will Rogers said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley needs to get with congressional candidate Rob Quist and schedule a cultural exchange in North Korea, preferably in a small town not Pyongyang. Ambassador Haley would of course need to support Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump. Head of state, staff and locals. No written agenda.

Quist is now a seasoned politician, having almost caught the richest man in Congress, and does not hide from his constituents. He won’t be afraid of the North Koreans, either. He is savvy enough to be an effective negotiator. It was a great failure of the Obama administration and presidents before him to not attempt personal contact with the North Korean leadership. If Trump will do it, he’s earned his money.

No demands prior to the event, pitched as cultural exchange, with a little shop talk. Extend a reciprocal invitation to visit the U.S. This is conventional diplomacy that doesn’t involve tightening the screws on North Korean people, but opens up the dialogue — remember the Chinese ping-pong teams.

Defeated in his run for Montana Representative, Rob Quist carries no political baggage into North Korea, but would be an effective figure of bipartisanship. Our President could use help on this. Somehow, never explained, President Obama used Bill Clinton and Al Gore to spring a prisoner in North Korea. Let’s make contact with them and use Americans in and out of politics, not to forget the Chinese.

—Ron Carter

Libby