Anthony Ruggiero: The Biden administration needs to take concrete measures now — specifically, immediately restoring the once-robust sanctions regime that has atrophied since Donald Trump embraced summit-level diplomacy with Kim in 2018. - NBCNewsTHINK
It’s not a coincidence that Kim then agreed to summits with Trump in 2018 and 2019. Trump ended up walking away from the table after. Yet, instead of ratcheting up pressure on North Korea, Trump turned to other issues for the rest of his term.
Shifting American attention elsewhere did keep things relatively quiet on the Korean Peninsula. Rather than provoke Seoul and Washington with missile launches, PyongyangBiden, too, has prioritized other things, including nuclear talks with Iran and responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Naturally, the White House had no interest in additional problems. But ignoring Kim worked only until Kim decided to make trouble.
It’s true that sanctions haven’t prevented North Korea from going nuclear. Yet Washington constantly disrupted its sanctions program to pursue fruitless negotiations. It has never had the patience to maintain sanctions until Kim has to bend, yet the pattern suggests that sanctions have been important in at least getting North Korea to the bargaining table.
A robust sanctions program today can limit the Kim regime’s revenue, forcing it to make difficult decisions among pursuing its nuclear program, maintaining military discipline and ensuring the loyalty of North Korean elites. In the nearly 30 years since Clinton first tried to limit Pyongyang’s nuclear program, Washington has tried the same failed approach, hoping for a different result each time. If Biden really wants to try something different, he should give a robust sanctions policy a chance to work.Anthony Ruggiero is senior director of the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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