Moves could be made to "buy out" North Korea's elite. Photo / AP
Moves could be made to "buy out" North Korea's elite. Photo / AP
Kim Jong Un could be removed from power by using a massive US$175 billion ($158b) fund to bribe his army and North Korea's high-ranking elite, an expert has claimed.
Up to US$30 million would be paid to each of the country's top officials while US$12b may be enough to convince Pyongyang's army to abandon the dictator, a radical new theory suggests.
Moves to "buy out" North Korea's elite, and offer Kim and his ruling family immunity, would avoid the need for a bloody conflict at a time when the country's relationship with the US and South Korea is threatening to boil over, it is claimed.
Professor Shepherd Iverson, a former professor at Inha University in Incheon, South Korea, suggests setting up a ''reunification investment fund'' to solve the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
In his book, Stop North Korea!: A Radical New Approach to Solving the North Korea Standoff, Iverson imagines a scenario where the top tiers of North Korea's power elite could be bribed to ensure a peaceful transition.
The fund would be as much as US$175b and include payments to officials over a number of years, according to a review of the book by NK News.
Iverson suggests the only way to push for denuclearisation and reunification in the region was for Kim to be taken out of the equation; financial incentives would then ensure co-operation from his top officials.
Up to US$23.3b would be paid in total to elite Pyongyang families who wield power in the capital. The top ten families would receive US$30m each and the top thousand would get more than US$5m.
A further 11,000 of the country's elite, including army generals, would be offered at least US$1m and the next tier of 50,000 would be paid between US$100,000 and US$500,000, the book suggests.
Is he sane? Trump said communist dictator Kim Jong Un is a 'smart cookie' but wouldn't rule out any military options against him. Photo / Getty
A number of other key groups in Pyongyang would share US$17.9b while US$121.8b would go to the country's general population.
In a bid to avoid bloodshed, US$12b would also be split between high-ranking and mid-level army officials as well as tens of thousands of military conscripts.
Kim Jong Un and his family would not receive money, but, also to avoid bloodshed, would be offered immunity in return for stepping away from power.
Cash for the scheme would be raised from private groups and through a range of business investment opportunities.
Iverson, a cultural anthropologist, "proposes that reunification is the best, possibly only, way to denuclearise North Korea, end its government's oppressive regime and create a fruitful, sustainable peace."
The only way to achieve reunification is "to buy it while there is still a chance to prevent war and repair the damage already done. It is business-as-peace-crafting in a way that has never been imagined before."
Soldiers hold their weapons as they ride on a tank during the parade at Kim Il Sung square. Photo / Getty
Publicity for the book, a follow-up to Iverson's 2013 work One Korea: A Proposal for Peace, says: "Imagine that you control a multi-billion dollar capital fund and North Korea is a large under-performing corporation.
"You see it is undervalued and want to take it over, but it is controlled by an old-fashioned board of directors, the Kim family and a small number of ultra-elites who will not negotiate a deal.
"In this regressive situation it is logical to offer shareholders the larger number of political and military elites, government managers and bureaucrats, and the general population a higher price for their shares to convince them to overrule their board of directors.''
