Maximum pressure – deferred engagement: why Trump’s North Korea policy is unwise, dangerous, and bound to fail

Abstract

ABSTRACTUnlike its predecessors, the Trump-Administration intends to confront Pyongyang’s expanding nuclear capabilities in a more proactive and consequential manner. For realizing the United States’ longstanding interest in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear disarmament, Washington has devised a new strategy that aims at coercing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme through maximizing the military, economic, and diplomatic pressure on the DPRK. This approach, however, is unwise as it provides Pyongyang with a powerful rational for strengthening its nuclear deterrence; it is dangerous as it steers the United States towards a confrontation with China; and it is bound to fail because Washington’s options for exerting critical pressure on the DPRK are actually too limited for discouraging Pyongyang from course. As little speaks or the success of the new strategy, the Trump-Administration would thus be best advised to stop chasing a fading illusion and start managing a nuclear-armed North Korea instead.