THE US COERCIVE DIPLOMACY AND NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR CHALLENGE

Abstract

Abstract
Coercive diplomacy is a useful tool employed by powerful states against the weaker actors for ensuring the latter’s compliance in matters related to maintaining the status-quo in International system. The US has increasingly used this instrument, particularly with regards to curtailing the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). However, North Korea has turned out to be an anomaly in this regard, where US efforts to coerce the DPRK into a nuclear rollback have not only backfired so far, but have also weakened the probability of compliance on the US-preferred terms. North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes have expanded ever since they were first developed, viewed today as an ever-larger threat for US homeland security and American allies. These dynamics are suggestive of the fact that US approach towards North Korea needs some modification. It is imperative for the US to diversify the tools employed within this coercive diplomacy framework such that the element of ‘coerciveness’ gets contained while that of ‘diplomacy’ gets reinforced. It is high time that US learns from earlier policy failures regarding the Korean peninsula and brings flexibility in its response if ensuring regional and global peace is the ultimate end being sought.