Trump Administration’s Korean Nuclear Crisis Management and Prospects for Solution

Abstract

The Korean nuclear crisis in 2017 was essentially a brinkmanship policy crisis deliberately created by the Trump administration. That is to say, the Trump administration forced the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to choose between war and concession by imposing “maximum pressure,” so as to promote the process of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However, due to the DPRK’s hedging strategy, U.S. domestic political constraints, and lack of international cooperation, the negotiation between the United States and the DPRK reached a stalemate. There even had been a debate in the United States over whether or not the government would acquiesce to the DPRK being a nuclear state. If any real progress is to be achieved, the Trump administration must set limited goals under a practical scheme. And at the same time, the UN Security Council should formulate reversible provisions to restrain the United States and the DPRK from failing to keep their promises. It should also reduce the negative impact of the lack of mutual trust between the two countries with a guarantee of the international community, thereby accelerating the peace process of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.