The US-North Korea Nuclear Diplomacy Row
Introduction
For many years till today, there are foreign policy concerns between the United States and North Korea
regarding the pursuit of North Korea on nuclear arsenal. The diplomatic disputes threaten the regional
stability and the world nonproliferation regime. Many countries across the world fall victims of the
issue. However, the United States is the main interlocutor that attempts to bring resolution. The US
isolates and exerts global pressure on North Korea. The US leads in efforts to address the nuclear
weapon program of the North Korea using diplomatic interventions and pressure. However, these
efforts have temporarily failed, affecting Pyongyang’s progress (Kim, 2014). Both North Korea and the US
have shown unwillingness to resolve the diplomatic issue as well as altering the conflict dynamics on the
Peninsula.
Nuclear power dispute
In the recent years, North Korea has increased the efforts of building nuclear programs despite plea
from the United States and other countries to stop the exercise. The Trump administration has in return,
leveled threats of military action against North Korea. Also, there have been high-profile summitry
engagements with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un on mitigating the issue. The row has remains at
the top of the foreign policy agenda of the United States. As I see currently, the United States frames
negotiations with North Korea in binary terms (Maclellan, 2015). This approach my lead to
denuclearization by North Korea hence prosperity, or may intensify confrontation and conflict. However,
experts predict that North Korea may give up on nuclear arsenal any time soon.
The NATO summit in London
Early December 2019, President Trump declared that the US ‘has peace’ with North Korea. He continued
to say that he has ‘a good relationship’ with Kim Jong-Un than any other leader ‘in the world’. However,
the North Korean leaders do not concur with Trumps statements because they term him as ‘not
genuine’. In the same meeting, a representative of the North Korean envoy reported that there was no
much progress as expected but expressed that North Korea was not giving up (Kwon & Chung, 2012).
Therefore, this miscommunication and contradicting press briefings halt the efforts to resolve the
problem.
The Singapore Summit
Trump nearly cancelled the meeting but became an encouragement since leaders rebuked North Korea
for lacking seriousness in the negotiations. The intensive negotiations were not fruitful. North Korea
resisted denuclearization talks but the US emphasized on the matter. However, the agreement on the
denuclearization peninsula was not followed.
Kim’s Provocation
Upon instances when President Trump tries to show good course of negotiations, Kim seem to move
towards opposite direction, halting the efforts. North Korea continues to threaten the US if it does not
change position on nuclear negotiations. Trump believes that his friendship and high-level meetings with
Kim is bringing peace but things seem different on the ground. In the entire 2019, North Korea has
tested more missiles than any other year in history. It angers the US to an extent of giving contradicting
statements about diplomatic success. At the same time, North Korea has never ceased to produce fissile
material for nuclear bombs.
Escalation of Name-calling
I think the United States and its allies are not happy with Kim’s intentions and plots amidst the
diplomacy negotiations. According to various reports, countries consider establishing a ‘maximum
pressure’ on Pyongyang. In the midst of conversations, the two leaders continue hurling names to each
other instead of building proper relationships for effective deliberations as the United Nations demand.
Trump calls Kim ‘rocket man’ while Kim refers to Trump as senile ‘dotard’. If this trend continues, I
believe there will be limited progress in addressing the nuclear power disputes. South Korea is the
prominent intermediary in the negotiations but faces challenges as Trump and Kim continue to show
‘bad blood’ between them. In this case, the fiasco is likely to escalate.
Broken Promises and Military Action
According to Satellite photographs, there is a renewed nuclear activity in North Korean sites. In 2018,
Kim had promised to dismantle all the nuclear sites but instead he has resumed testing through rocket
launching. In return, officials in the United States warn of taking military actions against Kim’s
administration. In my opinion, military intervention is not an appropriate mechanism of resolving the
issue because it will result to unnecessary casualties and destruction of property for innocent citizens
(Snyder, 2013). According to North Korean officials, the denuclearization negotiations are over without
meaningful solution.
Trumps’ Sideshow Warnings
The United States is desperate to salvage the nuclear power dispute. Instead, President Trump keeps on
warning North Korea not to interfere with the Presidential elections in the United States. Kim has not
expressed intention to mess up with US elections (Kim, 2014). Therefore, it seems that the bromance
between Kim and Trump is contractual. The US downplays Kim’s missile tests as they become
sophisticated and hard.
Conclusion
I believe that nuclear tension between US and North Korea will continue to escalate if the United
Nations fails to intervene appropriately. The US must hasten to address the security threat. North
Korean is pressurizing for a favorable deal. The UN must promote global efforts against deadly weapons
and testing and bring reconciliation.
References
Kim, K. H. (2014). Examining US news media discourses about North Korea: A corpus-based critical
discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 25(2), 221-244.
Kwon, H., & Chung, B. H. (2012). North Korea: beyond charismatic politics. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers.
Maclellan, N. (2015). Pacific diplomacy and decolonisation in the 21st century. DIPLOMACY, 263
Snyder, S. (2013). US policy toward North Korea. Seri Quarterly, 6(1), 99.
