I have in recent years dramaticly changed my view on DPRK. I now firmly believe we should officially recognize them as a nuclear state and drop sanctions in return for solid risk deconfliction between militaries.
North Korea is already a nuclear power and isn’t suicidal. Treating them like a denuclearization project keeps risk high for no gain. Recognize the reality, stop the growth, and build guardrails to prevent an accident.
Pyongyang’s strategy is regime survival, not a first strike fantasy. They’ve built enough survivable capability to deter invasion, and
no amount of pressure will undo that.
What does raise the chance of a nuclear exchange is the current no rules environment i.e missile demos over Japan, snap exercises, dead hotlines, and both sides guessing in a crisis window. We’re a hopscotch skip away from miscalculation/war all the time 24/7 there.
So let's face reality, recognize them as a legit official nuclear power. Drop sanctions in return for normalization and military deconfliction to minimize risks of kicking a war off by mistake.
Not saying make friends. But we can certainly face reality and minimize risk not raise it.
