North Korea is a difficult player to read in international affairs. It is dependent on China for economic sustenance, has a mutual defence agreement with Russia, deploys troops in Ukraine, threatens its neighbours with missile tests and engages with the West on occasion.
The newly inaugurated American president Donald Trump has already hinted that he might initiate talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un triggering a new phase of active American diplomacy in Korean affairs. India is preparing for a possible churn in regional politics as well. Delhi recently decided to restart its embassy in Pyongyang after the mission’s temporary closure in July 2021 owing to COVID-19.
Trump’s North Korea policy
President Trump, in his first term, initially adopted a policy of ‘maximum pressure’ on North Korea and brought measures such as the ‘secondary boycott,’ which meant penalising other countries and entities who traded with North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested to India during his visit in October 2017 that it cut off diplomatic ties with North Korea. India avoided the issue, saying that the ‘channel of communication’ with North Korea must be maintained. The Trump administration reportedly not only ‘understood’ and ‘appreciated’ the Indian stand but soon took a sharp turn, and Trump agreed to summit meetings with Kim.
Trump met the North Korean leader in Singapore in June 2018, and both sides took a few confidence-building moves. Both leaders met again in Hanoi in February 2019 with high expectations, but the summit abruptly ended as the U.S. wanted a promise from North Korea on substantial denuclearisation, and Pyongyang was demanding ‘corresponding measures’ from the U.S. The U.S. and North Korea have drifted away from each other since, though Trump tried to bring about a breakthrough by a sudden visit to Panmunjom in June 2019 and had his third meeting with Kim Jong-un. However, no further movement took place. The US administration under Joe Biden appeared passive in taking up the North Korean issue, and it has largely been a repeat of the Obama era’s ‘strategic patience’ policy.
