An Economic Engagement Center should be established in Taiwan to support the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Again, this would supplant some of the activities of State, Treasury, and Commerce Departments in Washington, but it would improve responsiveness to economic activities in the region.

Although this may seem like a relatively logical change in military and diplomatic posture, it is a radical change for the diplomatic, information, and economic instruments of national power. However, the radical nature of these combined actions would demonstrate a substantive U.S. commitment to the region and improve the application of all the tools available in a more synchronized, well-orchestrated, and effective manner.

Implement a New Korea Strategy

On 26 April 2023, President Yoon and President Biden provided strategic clarity in twenty-six words: “The two presidents are committed to build a better future for all Korean people and support a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace.” In addition. The two major documents from the Camp David Summit express similar ideas:

Spirit of Camp David: “We express support for the goal of the ROK’s Audacious Initiative and support a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace.”

Camp David Principles: “We support a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace.”

The new strategy must move “onward toward unification” consisting of three lines of effort: a human rights first approach, a sophisticated information and influence campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

Although denuclearization of the North remains a worthy goal, it must be viewed as aspirational as long as the Kim family regime remains in power. The conventional wisdom has always been that denuclearization must come first, and unification will follow. Additionally, there should be no discussion of human rights out of fear that it would prevent Kim Jong-un from signing a denuclearization agreement. Today, even a blind man can read the tea leaves and know that Kim Jong-un will not denuclearize, even though his policies have been an abject failure. His political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies failed in 2022 because Presidents Yoon and Biden, like their predecessors, refused to make the political and economic concessions he demanded just to come to the negotiating table, namely to remove sanctions. His strategy is failing in 2023 and will fail in 2024, potentially making him more dangerous as he launches satellites, receives additional aid from Russia and China, and continues to improve his nuclear and missile capabilities. 

It is time for the ROK-U.S. alliance to execute a political warfare strategy that flips the conventional wisdom and seeks unification first and then denuclearization. Everyone must understand that the only way to end the nuclear program and the human rights abuses is through the unification of the Korean peninsula. The ROK and the United States must maintain the highest state of military readiness to deter war, adopt a human rights first approach and a comprehensive and sophisticated information and influence campaign, and focus all efforts on pursuing a free and united Korea.

David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel and has spent more than 30 years in Asia as a practitioner and specializes in Northeast Asian Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is the Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation (where he focuses on a free and unified Korea). He is a member of the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights In North Korea and the editor of Small Wars Journal.

Image: Shutterstock.com.