Rethinking US Policy Towards North Korea

Abstract

Negotiations between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have failed. The United States has engaged the DPRK through a multitude of approaches with some success, though they have all ultimately deteriorated due to policy inconsistency and inability to predict and accommodate the DPRK’s erratic behavior. In the last decade,particularly with the DPRK’s successful development of nuclear weapon capabilities, relations with North Korea have collapsed due to various factors. Many failures can be attributed to US policy inconsistency towards the DPRK, especially during periods of administration change in the United States; these failures, consequently, have been perpetuated by the DPRK’s unpredictable reactions. Returning to negotiations through engaging the DPRK regime directly is increasingly important to national and global security as North Korea continues to proliferate.