Joe Biden has been urged by foreign policy experts to secure an arms control agreement with Kim Jong Un, a potentially radical change after decades of unsuccessful US diplomacy.
Successive administrations from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump have failed to stop North Korea developing nuclear and missile technology. Washington has tried sweeteners such as US aid and allowing economic engagement with South Korea, and crippling economic sanctions — but these strategies have failed to convince the Kim regime to abandon its weapons programmes.
North Korea now boasts between 20 and 40 nuclear warheads, stoking calls for the US to shift its focus to arms control. This would mean tacitly accepting Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear-armed state and focusing on curbing nuclear development and avoiding use of existing weapons, rather than demanding compete denuclearisation.