NORTH KOREANorth Korea Explained: What Americans Need to Know

The Korean Peninsula, with its intricate web of historical tensions, nuclear threats, and geopolitical dynamics, will demand a nuanced and strategic approach from the incoming administration. In the Q&A below, a pair of RAND experts discuss the foremost foreign policy challenges, the realistic goals for denuclearization, and the steps needed to bolster the U.S.–South Korea alliance. They also explore the cybersecurity threats posed by North Korea, the efficacy of economic sanctions, and ongoing human rights abuses in the region.

Bruce W. Bennett is an adjunct senior international/defense researcher at RAND whose research and writings have focused on North Korean issues, the Kim regime, military and nuclear threats, and the crisis on the Korean Peninsula in general. Benjamin R. Young is a Stanton Foundation Nuclear Security Fellow at RAND and author of the book Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World.

What are the most important foreign policy challenges facing the United States regarding Korea?
Bruce Bennett: My Korean colleagues are worried about the future of the U.S./ROK alliance under the new U.S. president, especially since the candidates have not explicitly addressed Korean security. Most Koreans wish to continue the alliance and U.S. extended deterrence, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, but they also want to be treated as more equal partners. They worry that the United States is preoccupied with other international challenges, like Ukraine, China, Taiwan, and Iran, and will not pay adequate attention to Korean security. Both the Republican and Democratic platforms deleted North Korean denuclearization as a goal and did not replace it with an alternative, confirming this Korean concern.

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There are multiple challenges facing the United States when it comes to the Korean Peninsula. First and foremost, it is the North Korean nuclear threat.
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Benjamin Young: I think there are multiple challenges facing the United States when it comes to the Korean Peninsula. First and foremost, it is the North Korean nuclear threat. A North Korean nuclear attack on South Korean territory, whether large scale or small scale, would send the entire Indo-Pacific region into a tailspin and endanger the lives of many South Koreans. The unpredictability and outlaw-like character of the Kim family regime makes the DPRK a threat to global stability. Secondly, a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan would likely involve South Korea in some way.