February 22, 2018
Five reasons the Olympics haven't solved the North Korea problem
Both during the run-up to the PyeongChang Olympics and during the Winter Games, the tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons have appeared to relax significantly. Reports that Vice President Pence’s bellicose rhetoric derailed diplomacy with the North, however, reveal a harsher reality. After the Olympics are over, the temperature between Washington and Pyongyang will almost certainly spike again. Here are five reasons.
Inter-Korean diplomacy isn’t about nuclear weapons. The cooler temperatures on North Korea come from inter-Korean diplomacy — not diplomacy that includes the United States or other major powers. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea calculated that it was more advisable to have North Korea participate in the Olympics than to let North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spoil things from the periphery, potentially testing missiles or nuclear weapons just 60 miles to the north. The two countries have discussed holding more formal talks after the Olympics are over, including a possible summit meeting.
However, inter-Korean diplomacy is primarily focused not on North Korea’s weapons programs but on issues specific to North and South Korea, like reuniting families divided by the Korean War. What’s more, while in South Korea, Pence insisted that the North Korean presence at the Olympics was a “charade,” called the regime “tyrannical” and urged that the pressure campaign against it continue, suggesting a very different approach.
Read the full article in The Washington Post.
More from CNAS
-
China to Play Significant Role in Helping Iran Rebuild: Analyst
Video
Richard Fontaine, CEO at Center for a New American Security, says China will help Iran rebuild due to its close economic relationship, and because Iran can be used to contain ...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Repairing the Breach
Reports
U.S.-India relations stumbled badly during the second half of 2025. Differences between U.S. and Indian officials over how a ceasefire was reached between New Delhi and Islama...
By Lisa Curtis, Keerthi Martyn & Sitara Gupta
-
Video
Indo-Pacific Security / Middle East Security
Iran U.S. War Latest Updates | ‘U.S., Israel Making Gains’: Lisa Curtis On Week 3 of Iran WarThree weeks into the Iran conflict, Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security, says the United States and Israel are making tac...
By Lisa Curtis
-
Reports
Defense / Indo-Pacific Security
U.S.-Japan-Philippines Trilateral CooperationExecutive Summary Growing challenges from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) massive military modernization, rapid technological advancement, and coercive military activ...
By Lisa Curtis & Ryan Claffey
