Prompt #2: North Korea’s Nukes

Consider this scenario: According to the latest intelligence estimates, North Korea has anywhere from 30-60 nuclear weapons (and possibly more) and the potential to project some of those weapons (perhaps 10-15 ICBMs) as far as the United States. The Trump administration gambled that developing a good personal rapport with Kim Jong Un would lead him to scrap his nuclear program. That gamble restrained the Kim government from engaging in further nuclear and long-range missile tests (good!), but his nation has continued to build and refine its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals on Trump’s watch (bad!).

President Biden and his national security team are exploring new approaches to North Korea and have come to you, a noted nuclear weapons expert, for some ideas to help solve this difficult predicament. In particular, Team Biden has two main questions for you answer.

1. What goal (or goals) should the US have regarding North Korea’s nuclear program? (Example ideas: Complete denuclearization? A nuclear roll back? A nuclear freeze? Let NK keep its nukes? Something else?) Be sure to explain and justify the goal(s) you recommend.

2. What policies do you believe the US should pursue in order to achieve the goal (or goals) you specified above? Please describe and explain those policies.

some Websites for reference:

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/north-koreas-military-capabilities

https://warontherocks.com/2020/12/denuclearizing-north-korea-six-options-for-biden/