United States—As the new Biden administration strives to put together the Korea team and plow ahead with an authoritative Korean policy review while the lame-duck Moon administration fights to fend off the opposition accusations that it planned to supply nuclear reactors to the North, Pyongyang does not waste any time and signals its aggressive strategic intent by staging another nighttime parade featuring what looked like submarine-launched ICBMs. This may not have been as much of a surprise as the October 10 Workers Party anniversary parade, where newer and larger liquid-propellant missiles were brought out. Nuclear weapons are one thing; global delivery capability is another.
UFP-USA conducted on February 16, 2021, a stimulating discussion among the most informed and influential thinkers on Northeast Asia, concerning the current status of North Korea’s nuclear breakout, US-ROK alliance response, and prospects for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and US-DPRK normalization under the Biden administration. Participants included Joel Wit, senior fellow, Stimson Center; Amb. Joseph DeTrani, former envoy to the Six Party Talks; Capt. James Fenell, fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy; and Col. David Maxwell, senior fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.