A Sharper Choice on North Korea: Nunn-Led Foreign Relations Council Task Force Says Engaging China Is Key to Stability

Posted September 21, 2016

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Independent Task Force published A Sharper Choice on North Korea: Engaging China for a Stable Northeast Asia, a new report on United States policy toward North Korea. Sam Nunn, former United States senator and distinguished professor in the Ivan Allen College’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, serves as co-chair of the Task Force alongside Mike Mullen, retired admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Task Force finds that the U.S. policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea will neither halt that country’s recurring and dangerous cycle of provocation nor ensure the stability of Northeast Asia in the future, and warns, “If allowed to continue, current trends will predictably, progressively, and gravely threaten U.S. national security interests and those of its allies.” The Task Force concludes that without a shift in strategy, the next U.S. president may be confronted by a North Korea that has the ability to strike the U.S. homeland.

Read the full report here.