Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis

Advance Praise forMeltdown "It's easy to demonize the North Koreans, not quite as easy to dismiss them; although the Bush administration has tried to do both. Mike Chinoy brilliantly and painstakingly reconstructs the faltering and dangerous dynamic by which Washington and Pyonyang misread one another's intentions. It's a path that could well lead to nuclear catastrophe and a story that's been told here with unblinking clarity."Ted Koppel "Mike Chinoy's superbly written book tells the tragic story of how Washington's unwillingness to engage in serious diplomacy with Pyongyang contributed to a new nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, alienating our South Korean allies in the process. He goes on to document the dramatic reversal of course that has seen the Bush administration drop its failed policy aimed at isolating and confronting North Korea, adopting instead a creative approach that, if North Korea acts wisely and rationally, could finally end the nuclear crisis, bring North Korea into the community of nations, and improve the lives of the North Korean people. This book, and the blunt, no-holds-barred comments it contains from many of the key protagonists of this period, is not to be missed."Evans Revere, president, The Korea Society "The explosion of a nuclear warhead by North Korea in October 2006 was the single greatest failure in a decades-long effort to contain the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Mike Chinoy'sMeltdowntells the tale of the tortured path that led to that failure, and the ongoing attempt to contain the fallout, with an authority and a wealth of insider detail that is unmatched.Meltdownis a diplomatic history that reads like a spy novel. It takes us inside the Washington wars that crippled the Bush administration's North Korea policy, and offers fresh insights into the view from Pyongyang, as well as from Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo.Meltdownwill be the gold standard for reporting on the North Korean nuclear crisis for years to come."Daniel Sneider, Associate Director for Research, Shorenstein AsiaPacific Research Center, Stanford UniversityChinoy, Mike is the author of 'Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis', published 2008 under ISBN 9780312371531 and ISBN 0312371535.