ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the inter-branch relationship between the presidency and Congress to explain the choices and outcomes of US policy toward North Korea under the Obama administration in 2009-12. It explains why the Obama administration has not had any significant improvement in its relationship with North Korea. While most studies have focused exclusively on international factors, the chapter focuses on the domestic factors, particularly the institutional factor, in US policy-making toward North Korea during the Obama administration, which has typically been disregarded or ignored. The chapter argues that domestic politics of the United States have continually and profoundly affected US policy-making toward North Korea under the Obama administration, as they did under the Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. It describes that Congress has continually played a significant role in the US North Korea policy-making process, using all congressional weapons.
