Recently I heard an expert on North Korea’s nuclear program declare that it is not likely that North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons. This expert explained in lengthy detail all of the information that had been gathered including the actual expansion of the nuclear program itself as well as all of the local departments and personnel involved. From this research, it is evident that North Korea’s nuclear program has been undeterred by recent global sanctions and is actually progressing in development.

When considering North Korea’s nuclear issue, geopolitical discussions often arise. Will China continue to support North Korea’s nuclear program, we wonder. What is the breaking point at which even China will not support them? Why was the Singapore Summit a failure? Was it because North Korea never intended to give up its nuclear weapons or was it something else?

Unfortunately, from my ten plus years of living in North Korea, I think these experts are missing the main issue all together. The question is not what will make North Korea give up its nuclear program. The question should be why does North Korea develop nuclear weapons in the first place.

Every time I hear a discussion on North Korea’s nuclear program I rarely hear any mention of the Korean War. In fact, many Americans are not aware of the fact that the U.S. is still technically at war with North Korea. According to a recent poll conducted by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), 40% of Americans incorrectly believe that the Korean War has ended. 28% of those surveyed were unsure about the facts of the Korean War.

However, despite the general public’s lack of knowledge, the poll indicates that U.S. citizens’ attitude towards North Korea is changing. 68% of the U.S. public thinks that the U.S. president should hold talks with the North Korean leader. Slightly more than half of the U.S. public (52%) agree that the U.S. government should sign a peace agreement to end the Korean War.

If the Korean War ended, what would this mean for North Korea’s nuclear program? Obviously, that is yet to be seen, so it is impossible to say. But if defense and trauma from the Korean War are a motivating factor for North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, a peace treaty could only improve relations between the U.S. and North Korea.   

One thing is clear. Sanctions are not stopping North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. The only people impacted by sanctions are the common people of North Korea as well as the humanitarian organizations trying to help them.

Interestingly, AFSC’s poll also found that about 54% of the U.S. public agrees that humanitarian workers from privately-funded charities should be allowed to travel to North Korea without restrictions from the U.S. government, and 56% agreed that the U.S. should allow faith-based organizations to conduct people-to-people exchanges in North Korea.

As AFSC’s Program Director, Jennifer Deibert, stated, “It is time to rethink the use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool and no longer accept the devastating consequences of broad-based sanctions.” After all, sanctions are not having the intended impact for which they were designed.