Washington Must Ensure that North Korea,
Which Could Disrupt a War with China,
Is Kept Under Control
Simon Chun / KoreaCollaboration
(August 24, 2025) — The first reason is simple: Washington has failed to defeat Lee Jae-myung. Despite vigorous efforts—not only from Biden and Trump’s officials but also from the US–Korea far-right coalition—Koreans elected Lee. At this point, there is no sense in refusing to recognize him.
What Washington truly fears is the Korean people’s capacity for mass mobilization, epitomized by the candlelight revolution—the revolution of light—that has repeatedly ousted autocratic leaders by bringing millions into the streets. This fear is not abstract. During tariff negotiations, the Korean negotiating team reportedly showed a photo of millions of citizens protesting, a gesture that left a strong impression on Trump’s team.
I will return to this theme later. For now, it is enough to highlight one important reason behind Trump’s decision to seek a summit with Lee.
How is Chairman Kim Jong-un? Why is North Korea not coming to the negotiation table with the US?”
During tariff talks, Trump reportedly asked Korean negotiators, “His repeated inquiries about Kim reveal his true preoccupation: reviving the momentum of the 2018 Trump–Kim summits. Yet Pyongyang has made it clear that it has no interest in repeating failed negotiations, rejecting both US and South Korean overtures as nothing more than a rehash of 2018.
If the agenda were only tariff negotiations or increased defense cost-sharing, there would be little reason for a face-to-face summit with President Lee. The deeper motive lies elsewhere—North Korea. In fact, the elephant in the room at the upcoming Lee–Trump summit will be Pyongyang.
North Korea’s centrality to Trump’s calculations is unmistakable:
- Alongside Russia and China, it is one of the three states with both the intention and capability—individually and collectively—to challenge US military hegemony.
2. Unlike Moscow or Beijing, North Korea is the only one that openly threatens the US mainland, both rhetorically and with credible capability. This is why Trump often reminds audiences that Pyongyang is a nuclear-armed state and stresses the need for Washington to “get along” with such a power.
3. The strategic problem for Washington becomes acute in the event of war over the Taiwan Strait. Bound by a defense treaty with China, North Korea could strike US Forces Korea, opening a second front and pushing the conflict toward global war.
4. With North Korean and Chinese fleets already pressuring US bases across the Pacific, Washington could be forced to retreat from the first and second island chains and even from Okinawa, Guam, and Hawaii. In such a scenario, North Korea emerges as the critical link among America’s adversaries.
5. Analysts widely expect that Pyongyang would intervene in any Taiwan conflict, citing its precedent of supporting Russia in the Ukraine war. Should US forces in Korea attack China, North Korea could retaliate against American bases, splitting the war into dual fronts and making US operations exponentially more difficult.
6. This is why assessments such as “North Korea’s Rising International Standing: Need for Unified and Comprehensive Diplomacy” are not exaggerations. Pyongyang is now acknowledged as a strategic state and potential nuclear power. Under Trump’s “multipolar” order, it emerged as a decisive factor in great-power security bargaining. Its international stature is higher than many assume and cannot be ignored.
7. It is precisely to prevent such a scenario that Washington has long sought to manage or improve relations with Pyongyang. This logic drove Trump’s first-term summits with Kim—and it explains why he now seeks President Lee’s help in recreating “2018 again.”
Seen in this light, Trump’s invitation to President Lee Jae-myung is less about tariffs or defense burden-sharing and more about testing whether Lee can reprise Moon Jae-in’s 2018 role as a facilitator of US–North Korea talks. Trump’s ultimate goal remains a direct channel back to Kim Jong-un.
For Trump, the imperative is to stabilize Northeast Asia just long enough to secure US strategic flexibility. To “Make America Great Again,” Washington must prevent North Korea from undermining preparations for a future confrontation with China. Yet here lies his dilemma. International Relations 101 reminds us of a Realist principle: sovereignty and power ultimately rest on military capability. No state embodies this principle more fiercely than North Korea. Pyongyang cannot be bought, bribed, or coerced. Its sovereignty is non-negotiable.
I urge President Lee Jae-myung to boldly demonstrate that South Korea’s sovereignty is absolutely non-negotiable. Read
