US relations with North Korea

Tensions between the U.S and North Korea started immediately following the Korean War. Immediately following the Korean War, we established the demarcated line at the demilitarized zone and sent troops to stand guard at the border, but that was it, especially during the Red Scare of Communism immediately following in the 60s and 70s. In the 1980s, at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, tensions began w Ronald Reagan over nuclear war, especially when we discovered that the complex was primarily developed by the Soviets. For a while didn't even recognize them as a country--just as Korea (no diplomatic recognition). They never obeyed NPT with missile tests: Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (1985) established with Reagan. Little to no foreign diplomatic visits or relations ensue. In 1993, Intnatl. atomic energy agency puts sanctions on North Korea for test-firing 1st missile into Sea of Japan, relations begin to sour again. From 1994 to 2001 the Clinton Admin responds to threats to make fuel rods from reactor byproducts Kim II sung dies, Kim Il Jong takes over Agreed Framework negotiations: NK would receive fuel, oil, supplies from US to build light-water nuclear reactors (where fuel could not be converted into missiles or weapons). Madeline Albright, in 2000, makes the first attempt at a productive, formal diplomatic visit in several decades, but it goes nowhere. From 2001 to 2003 George W. Bush cuts things off accidentally: he makes accusations that North Korea possess nuclear weapons, which were most likely false, sends inspectors in to check for them, and the North Korea government responds with and anger and indignation, and orders IAEA inspectors out, and North Korea drops out from the  from NPT and AF

(progress is reversed). From 2003 to 2006 the U.S. And North Korea engage in the Six Party Talks, which failed bc UN took shots against their economy for firing missiles into South China Sea by putting sanctions on vital imports and exports like oil. Following their first successful nuclear testing tensions continued to grow without a U.S. response, and silence between the two nations persisted again until 2009, after their second nuclear test when Obama took office, and felt disrespected after they launched a space rocket (which failed) and openly admitted to not adhering to UN rules after ignoring the Foreign Security Council newly created with an agreement with them as a part of it.Under the Obama administration infrequent yet somewhat regular relations between the ambassadors of the two nations persisted all the way until the election of Donald Trump.

         Donald J. Trump is the first U.S. president to ever meet with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. On June 12, 2018, The President and  Dictator held their first ever summit to discuss issues related to the establishment of new U.S. DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) relations. Their goal; to build a lasting peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. After his election, Trump, relations heated up after some spiteful rhetoric was shared between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Most political analysts believed it was just an exchange of steam-blowing, and no real military actions were taken nor nuclear weapons developed after the exchange. As of recent, a more aggressive policy in terms of imposing sanctions has been adopted by Trump, in which threats to cut off exports of coal and imports of oil if they don’t come to the table for negotiation--and negotiations as of late have continued with talks of denuclearizing the entire Korean Peninsula and bringing a formal end of the Korean War. The two leaders signed a joint statement that agreed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, security guarantees for the DPRK, and to continue working towards a peace regime.

          In terms of the advice we would consider giving the current president, we would advise him to continue with economic rather than military sanctions and to curb his rhetoric on Twitter with Kim Jong Un. We believe he should continue his efforts to denuclearize to Korean Peninsula, but should work more with North Korea’s neighbors, namely South Korea and Russia. If South Korea and Russia participated in the economic sanctions being placed on North Korea it would have an exponentially greater impact because when in times they have been cut off from the United States they have typically depended on their communist counterparts (the Soviets and Chinese) for supplies and have been able to pay off the South Koreans for supplies. North Korea would probably be more responsive to requests for their denuclearization and would be less aggressive in their missile testing in the South China Sea.