The Biden administration has completed its review of North Korea policy, the White House announced Friday, and going forward they don't seem too keen on taking their cues from previous administrations, including former President Barack Obama's.
"Our policy will not focus on achieving a grand bargain, nor will it rely on strategic patience," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday, referring to the nuclear negotiation strategies espoused by the Trump and Obama administration, respectively. The "goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, with the clear understanding that the efforts of the past four administrations have not achieved this objective," Psaki added.
Psaki said the U.S. will instead deploy a "calibrated, practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy," hinting Biden could wind up meeting face-to-face with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at some point, though not until after negotiators iron out some form of a deal. The details might sound vague, but a senior administration official broke it down for The Washington Post, saying that "if the Trump administration was everything for everything, Obama was nothing for nothing." Biden's plan, the official said, is "somewhere in the middle." Read more at ABC News and Reuters.
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