Orchestrating US Engagement with North Korea

Abstract

North Korea’s advancing nuclear-weapons programme poses a significant threat to US security interests, yet successive US presidents have failed to roll back this threat. The Trump administration’s failed negotiations with North Korea demonstrated that narrowly construed negotiating strategies requiring Pyongyang to take concrete steps towards denuclearisation prior to receiving any benefits are partly to blame for the lack of progress. A more productive strategy would embed verifiable steps towards denuclearisation within a broader transformation of the relationship between Washington and Pyongyang. Such a strategy would begin with an agreement between the United States and North Korea on a broad framework for denuclearisation and peacebuilding that would guide corresponding actions by both parties to achieve these goals.