The Neoconservative Approach to North Korea: Its Prospects under the next US Administration

Abstract

Peace through strength, regime change to democracy, and preemptive strikes are known to be neoconservative policies which are based on such values as hegemonic stability, democratic peace and war as a necessary evil. If a Republican candidate wins office in January 2017, the new U.S. administration will undertake a bottom-up-review of the North Korea policy. The key variable will be whether North Korea returns to the dialogue or conducts another long-range missile test and/or nuclear test before the new U.S. administration comes in. If the long-range missile test makes a big advance by confirming North Korea's capability of reaching the U.S. mainland and if the nuclear test turns out to be a success of miniaturizing nuclear warheads that can be placed on the top of ICBMs, the new U.S. administration will take it as a game changer. This kind of strategic game changer could revive neoconservatism that has been ostensibly dead in the U.S. security community and it could be applied to North Korea.