ABSTRACT
Under Kim Jong un the North accelerated the development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, which heightened its impact on the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea’s nuclear tests have been more frequent since Kim Jong un came to power. Such an action could have been repeated when the North began to make progress in the development of its nuclear weapons programme. In October 2016, Jane Harman and James Person, both of the Woodrow Wilson Centre, called for direct negotiations with the North to achieve a freeze of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The closing of the options in dealing with the situation led the Americans to understand more deeply their dependence on China, and that they had no autonomous response to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile capability. Studies have pointed out the myriad complications involved in a military strike.
