How Biden can truly differentiate his North Korea policy


North Korea tested short-range missiles this past weekend, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, a move seen by many as a provocation of the new Biden administration. President Biden has yet to announce a comprehensive policy toward North Korea, but the State Department — and the Post story — are teasing the forthcoming posture as distinct from "President Donald Trump's top-down approach of meeting directly with Kim Jong Un and President Barack Obama's bottom-up formulation, which swore off engagement until Pyongyang changed its behavior."
That's welcome news, as is Biden's appropriately measured response to the missiles. But it's difficult figure out what the promised distinction could be. Trump and Obama's approaches differed greatly in style, but their substantive demand of the Kim regime was the same: Completely denuclearize, then perhaps we can think about possibly lifting some of our sanctions. Biden's campaign suggested this is his position, too. At the last presidential debate, he said he'd only meet with Kim after he agreed to "drawing down his nuclear capacity."
Here's the problem with the denuclearization-first approach: It won't happen. North Korea has been incredibly clear about this. Pyongyang's (not unreasonable) belief is that if their nuclear arsenal is surrendered, the U.S. will force a regime change, deposing and perhaps executing Kim. Their evidence? We just did it in Iraq and Libya, two other cruel dictatorships without nukes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
If Biden really wants to chart a new course, then, he must reorient his perspective on denuclearization. Is it desirable? Of course! But it's not achievable for the foreseeable future. Making it a precondition of productive U.S.-North Korea engagement precludes productive engagement. Denuclearization should be the long-term goal, the pinnacle of a gradually normalized relationship reinforced by more restrained U.S. foreign policy.
In the near term, Biden should dramatically lower his expectations and seek concessions Pyongyang might actually make. Nuclear freeze is a great option. So is a peace treaty for the Korean War and humanitarian gains for the North Korean people. Biden won't personally get the big win. This could take decades of patient negotiations with lots of setbacks. But maybe after all that, denuclearization will be on the table.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
How ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ has brought out the worst in its fans
In the Spotlight Amazon’s love-triangle hit ‘driving some of the most bonkers and unhinged online energy in the history of the internet’
-
Human evolution may be responsible for autism rates
Under the radar Neurodiversity and a complex brain may go hand in hand
-
Crossword: September 17, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Kim Jong Un’s triumph: the rise and rise of North Korea’s dictator
In the Spotlight North Korean leader has strengthened ties with Russia and China, and recently revealed his ‘respected child’ to the world
-
Graphic videos of Charlie Kirk’s death renew debate over online censorship
Talking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
Trump's drug war is now a real shooting war
Talking Points The Venezuela boat strike was 'not a mere law enforcement action'
-
Truck drivers are questioning the Trump administration's English mandate
Talking Points Some have praised the rules, others are concerned they could lead to profiling
-
Gavin Newsom's Trump-style trolling roils critics while thrilling fans
TALKING POINTS The California governor has turned his X account into a cutting parody of Trump's digital cadence, angering Fox News conservatives
-
Costco is at the center of an abortion debate
Talking Points The decision to no longer stock the abortion pill came following a pressure campaign by conservatives
-
What does occupying Gaza accomplish for Israel?
Talking Points Risking a 'strategic dead-end' in the fight against Hamas
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardon
Talking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein