Candidates Ratchet Up Focus on Foreign Policy After North Korea’s Nuclear Test Republican presidential contenders lay out their plans for dealing with Pyongyang; Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton talks up her experience as secretary of state By Colleen McCain Nelson
http://www.wsj.com/articles/candidates-ratchet-up-focus-on-foreign-policy-after-north-koreas-nuclear-test-1452133211
A presidential election many expected to turn on economic issues has made a sharp turn toward foreign policy, a change accelerated by North Korea’s claim this week it had detonated a hydrogen bomb.
On the campaign trail Wednesday, national-security issues dominated, with Republican contenders criticizing what they called weakness in the Obama administration, and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton talking up her experience as the nation’s secretary of state.
North Korea’s nuclear test, which the U.S. and others believe was less powerful than a hydrogen bomb, has raised questions on the campaign trail about the White House’s current policy of “strategic patience” with the regime. It joins the Iran nuclear deal, terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., and escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as issues testing the candidates’ grasp of global affairs.
“Threats like this are yet another reminder of what’s at stake in this election,” Mrs. Clinton said in a written statement. She condemned North Korea’s nuclear test and detailed her efforts in the Obama administration to tackle this national-security challenge.
“As secretary, I championed the United States’ pivot to the Asia Pacific—including shifting additional military assets to the theater—in part to confront threats like North Korea and to support our allies,” Mrs. Clinton said.
GOP presidential candidates said North Korea’s continued nuclear buildup was evidence that the administration’s policy, which they lay at the feet of both President Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton, had failed, strengthening their case for installing a Republican in the White House.
In Iowa, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said North Korea’s claimed test amounts to a preview of Iran’s next steps once it develops nuclear-bomb technology. “If Hillary Clinton is elected president, what we saw last night is a crystal ball showing where Iran is headed,” Mr. Cruz said. “We will see in just a few years Iran testing nuclear weapons. But Iran may not test them underground like North Korea did. They may well test their nuclear weapons in the skies of Tel Aviv or New York or Los Angeles.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told Fox News that Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test highlighted a “weak response by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the last seven years,” and he pledged that as president, he would put together a U.S-led coalition that would convey to North Korea this conduct is unacceptable.
Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, told Fox News that China has “total control over North Korea, and China should solve that problem.”
In Iowa, Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) laid out a four-point plan that included putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror, imposing additional sanctions, rebuilding military alliances in the Asia-Pacific and recommitting to missile defense. On Twitter, Mr. Rubio said he has long been warning that “North Korea is run by a lunatic.”
Under Mr. Obama’s policy of “strategic patience,” the administration has aimed to pressure Kim Jong Un’s regime, including with sanctions, while insisting North Korea return to negotiations known as the Six Party Talks, among the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and North Korea. The administration has coordinated closely with South Korea and Japan in its approach and has urged China to take a tougher stance on North Korea.
Critics of the policy say it has allowed Pyongyang to ramp up its missile and nuclear programs unimpeded. North Korea has consistently violated United Nations Security Council Resolutions with rocket launches and nuclear tests while Mr. Obama has been in office.
Jonathan D. Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said North Korea has bedeviled multiple U.S. presidents, and one goal for America’s next commander in chief will be to induce more meaningful cooperation from China in tackling the problem.
“They are tough, determined customers” he said of the North Koreans. “They thumb their nose to the outside world.”
Polling suggests that growing fears about terrorism have led to a shift in the political landscape. While job creation and economic growth topped voters’ priority lists in April, a December Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey found a plurality saying national security and terrorism should be the government’s top priority. In addition, more than 60% of respondents say national security and terrorism should be in the top two, compared with 39% in April.
—Reid J. Epstein and Felicia Schwartz contributed to this article.
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