A Study On Trump Administration's Policy Of Maximum Pressure On The North Korea

The research question of this article is whether the Trump administration's maximum pressure policy on North Korea is a decisive factor to force the North Korea to return to the path of denuclearization negotiations with the United States in 2018.The U.S.abandoned its strategic patience policy at the beginning of the Trump administration and imposed maximum pressure on North Korea.In 2017,the Trump administration put maximum pressure on the DPRK in an all-round way.The U.S.and the DPRK launched public opinion attacks and military deterrence,and the situation on the Korean Peninsula was highly strained.In 2018,after the DPRK took the initiative to express its willingness of denuclearizing,and the Trump administration accepted the invitation of the DPRK to resume denuclearization negotiations.The first summit meeting between the U.S.and the DPRK was held in Singapore in 2018.After the warming of the U.S.-DPRK relations,the situation on the Korean Peninsula showed a apparent relaxation.The maximum pressure policy on DPRK is that the U.S.exhausted all means to implement the policy on DPRK in history,with the purpose of forcing DPRK to return to the path of denuclearization negotiations on its own initiative.Eventually,DPRK will be denuclearized in the way that the U.S.expects.The purpose of the policy is denuclearizing North Korea,focusing on pressure on the DPRK first,and then negotiating with the DPRK after abolition of its nuclear program.The Trump administration has implemented the most extensive and vigorous pressure policy on DPRK in the political,economic and military fields from four dimensions: global circumstance,regional alliance,U.S.-China relation and U.S.itself.While implementing the policy of maximum pressure on the North Korea,the Trump administration has maintained multi-channel communication with North Korea,lowered the threshold for the dialogue between the U.S and the DPRK,and left room for the U.S.-DPRK to resume denuclearization negotiations.The maximum pressure policy is the crucial driving factor for the North Korea to return to the track of denuclearization negotiations,rather than the decisive factor.The maximum pressure policy is a catalyst for accelerating North Korea's change of its national strategy.However,it would be biased to interpret the reasons for the change of DPRK's behavior as the result of the maximum pressure policy.The key causes of resuming the negotiation on the denuclearization between the US and the DPRK is the result of the resonance of their strategic intentions.The strategic intention of the Trump administration's policy is to impose maximum pressure on DPRK to force it submitting to the pressure before contacting it.It resonates with the Kim Jong-un government's strategic intention of establishing a credible nuclear faction and then forcing the U.S.to initiate peaceful talks.The differences between the U.S.and the DPRK on the denuclearization of the Korea Peninsula affected the direction of U.S.-DPRK relations.There are three possible prospects for U.S.-DPRK relations.The first prospect is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of new state relations between the U.S.and DPRK;the second prospect is the stagnation of denuclearization of the Peninsula and the maintenance of existing contacts between the U.S.and DPRK,and the third prospect is that the road of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is blocked and the U.S.and DPRK return to confrontation.The first prospect is the ideal prospect,but it will be hard to achieve in the short term.The second prospect is the second bad prospect,but the two countries have serious differences on the definition and implementation path of denuclearization,which may lead to a stalemate in the game of denuclearization between the two sides.Therefore,it is most likely that the two countries will maintain the current state of contact for some time to come.The third prospect is the worst prospect,considering that both the U.S.and the DPRK have subjective and objective needs to continue denuclearization negotiations,it is unlikely to have such a prospect.The policy of maximum pressure is a major issue involving multilateral relations between China,the U.S.,the DPRK and the ROK.It also has an important impact on the game of the DPRK nuclear issue between these countries.It is an important factor affecting the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the geopolitical environment in the Northeast Asia.The easing of the situation of the Korean Peninsula is hard-won.China should continue to push for a political settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue between the United States and North Korea,and strive to guide the second prospect into ideal prospect and avoid the worst prospect.To this end,China should adhere to the stand of denuclearization of the Peninsula and no war or chaos,consolidate the results of the “double suspension”,promote the “double track and go” approach,and assist North Korea to achieve strategic transformation.