NORTH KOREA’S NUKESU.S.-North Korea Arms Control Talks or Denuclearization? Analysts Are Divided
As Pyongyang continues to bolster its nuclear and missile programs while refusing to engage with Washington, analysts are divided on whether the U.S. should continue pursuing denuclearization or consider possible arms control options.
As Pyongyang continues to enhance its nuclear and missile programs while refusing to engage with Washington, analysts are divided on whether the U.S. should continue pursuing denuclearization or consider possible arms control options.
North Korea has been escalating tensions in the region with missile launches and threats to occupy South Korea if war breaks out.
Its latest launch came on Friday. The country test-fired what it called a new type of anti-aircraft missile and conducted “a cruise missile super-large warhead power test” off its west coast, according to state media KCNA.
It was the fourth cruise missile test of the year, after the launch of a hypersonic inter-range ballistic missile on Jan. 14.
U.S. State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing on January 24 that the U.S. is “eager to engage” with North Korea to “manage military risks” and to continue the goal of “complete denuclearization.”
As North Korea accelerates its missile tests, launching more than 100 since January 2022, some analysts said it would become harder to pursue the U.S. policy of denuclearization.
Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the think tank Defense Priorities, told VOA Korean via email that Washington’s efforts to seek denuclearization have long become “unrealistic.” Instead, he said, the U.S. should live with “a nuclear-armed North Korea over the long term.”
“No country on earth has constructed dozens of nuclear warheads only to negotiate them away,” DePetris said. “North Korea is not going to be the first, particularly when its conventional military capacity is weak relative to the U.S., and its Asian neighbors.”
Since North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in 2016, it has been developing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
It conducted more than 10 intercontinental ballistic missile-related tests since 2022 including Hwasong-17 and what it referred to as “the most powerful” Hwasong-18 in December 2023.
It refined solid-fuel technology that shortens the launch time to avoid being targeted and test-fired submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) as well as a spy satellite.
Talks have been stalled since the failed summit in Hanoi between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019. Trump held two summits and an impromptu meeting with Kim but failed to reach an agreement on denuclearization that the U.S. sought and sanctions relief that North Korea wanted.
