Do Values or Interests Guide U.S. Policy? With China and North Korea, It's Hard to Tell.
Once, trade outweighed human rights. Now, it’s outweighing security too.
It would be useful for the administration to convey the reverse dynamic as well: Pyongyang’s failure to get on the denuclearization path soon will lead to a series of U.S. and allied actions that could well end with precisely the results they most fear. If the North Korean state refuses to liberate the region from its nuclear threat, the region may have to be liberated from the North Korean state.
Joseph Bosco served in the office of the secretary of defense, 2002–10. He is presently a Fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies.
Image: Opening ceremony of the Russia-China Naval Interaction 2014 joint exercises. Kremlin.ru