For decades, the United States, South Korea and the international community have failed to achieve denuclearization in North Korea despite employing various strategies ranging from maximum engagement to patience to maximum pressure.

As we enter 2025, it has become clear that Kim Jong Un will not voluntarily relinquish his nuclear weapons under any circumstances. This realization, coupled with Kim’s recent rejection of peaceful unification and declaration of South Korea as the “main enemy,” presents a critical inflection point that demands a bold new approach.

Read the opinion published January 13, 2025, by United Press International, by David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation.