Minnich, James M.

(Lt. Colonel James M. Minnich)

PERSONAL:

Education: Harvard University, M.A.; U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, M.M.A.S.; also graduated from Republic of Korea Army College, Taejon, South Korea, and Sogang University Center for Korean Studies, Seoul, South Korea.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer, primarily in Korea; director for Policy Operations, Training, and Liaison in Joint United States Military Affairs Group-Korea (JUSMAG-K).

WRITINGS:

The Denuclearization of North Korea: The Agreed Framework and Alternative Options Analyzed, 1st Books Library (Bloomington, IN), 2002.

The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics, Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 2005.

Contributor of chapter to A Turning Point. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Korean Journal of Defense Analysis and F.A.O. Journal.

SIDELIGHTS:

Lieutenant Colonel James M. Minnich has served numerous assignments with U.S. Army forces in Korea since 1982. His positions have included foreign area officer and director for Policy Operations, Training, and Liaison in Joint United States Military Affairs Group—Korea. In The Denuclearization of North Korea: The Agreed Framework and Alternative Options Analyzed, Minnich discusses the ways in which the United States hoped to keep the North Korean government from developing nuclear capacity. From the cease-fire at the end of the Korean War in 1953 up to the death of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, U.S. and South Korean forces maintained an armed presence along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. After Kim Il Sung was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il, however, relations between the former opponents began to thaw. South Korea began to seek normal relations with its Communist opponent while, at the same time, North Korea underwent a severe famine. As a result, the United States developed a framework for eliminating North Korea's nascent nuclear program, operating under the assumption that the Communist nation was on the verge of collapse and would readily agree to the conditions.

The idea behind the Agreed Framework, as the document was known, was that North Korea would abandon its indigenous nuclear power program and would in return receive foreign assistance in constructing cleaner light-water reactor plants, which could produce power but not weapons-grade plutonium for use in weaponry. While the new plants were being built, the United States and its allies would take responsibility for providing North Korea with heating oil and electricity-producing technology. Lastly, the Agreed Framework would begin the process of normalizing relations between the two countries, finally bringing the Korean War to an end. "Minnich provides excellent background to the development of the US policy on this issue," Jacob W. Kipp wrote on the Minnich Papers Web site. "He also notes the slow pace of the agreement's execution and the absence of an inspection regime to monitor North Korean compliance. He concludes that the Agreed Framework seems to have frozen the North Korean weapons program but not eliminated it."

The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics, Minnich's second book, traces the story of the world's fourth-largest military from its beginnings to the modern day. The People's Army began as an armed resistance movement opposing the Japanese occupation during World War II. From the time that North Korea was established as an independent Communist nation in 1948 through the Korean War, the military continued to grow. "Interestingly, the most easily overlooked attribute of this book is its appendices," declared Daniel M. Friekenschmidt, writing for Military Review. "Comprising fully one-third of the book's pages, they range in scope from a list of influential personalities" to an exposition of the command-and-control systems for the entire military. "Any work that casts light on the role of the North Korean military is … important, particularly as the Korean People's Army does not go out of its way to allow others to know what it is doing," wrote James E. Hoare in Korean Studies.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Korean Studies, annual, 2006, James E. Hoare, review of The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics, p. 122.

Military Review, July-August, 2006, Daniel M. Frickenschmidt, review of The North Korean People's Army, p. 118,

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2006, review of The North Korean People's Army.

ONLINE

Minnich Papers Web site,http://www.minnichpapers.com/ (June 26, 2008), James W. Kipp, review of The Denuclearization of North Korea: The Agreed Framework and Alternative Options Analyzed, and author profile.