U.S. Foreign Policy for North Korea: Flexibility is the Best Policy

摘要

The North Korean nuclear weapons program poses a challenge to stability in Northeast Asia. The United States' foreign policy toward North Korea takes a hard-line position, but the United States cannot solve this problem unilaterally. Rather, the United States must rely on support from the other countries in the region. Also, solving this nuclear issue is only one piece of the stability challenge in this region. North Korea's nuclear program gained international attention when the nation signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985, threatened to withdraw from the treaty in 1993, withdrew in 2003, and stated it had a nuclear weapons capability in 2005. The Six-Party Talks were initiated with the goal of stopping and dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program completely, but it has had limited success. Previous negotiations between North Korea and the United States have ended with one party, usually North Korea, failing to uphold its part of the agreement. The Six-Party Talks may eventually be successful, but it may take decades to happen. It comes down to one question: Is the United States pursuing the best foreign policy it can toward North Korea. This thesis examines the history of North Korea's nuclear program, how North Korea perceives itself and others, and current U.S. policy toward North Korea. The author recommends a more flexible foreign policy toward North Korea and proposes a method of implementing it.