It has made technological advancements under immense sanctions pressure. Pyongyang has broken off diplomatic agreements with the United States and its allies. The intelligence community has long assessed that the regime won’t dismantle its nuclear and missile programs. The North Korea problem is extremely hard to solve. That doesn’t mean where we are is satisfying, but sometimes you play a hand correctly and in a way that optimizes your chance of success and still don’t get to where you want to go.” As for North Korea, “we’re sanguine about the idea that there’s no magic bullet…Over the last 25 years, almost everybody’s pet approach has been tried and what they all have in common is they haven’t worked.”Īnother senior administration official, unauthorized to speak to the press, confirmed this was the general attitude within the team: “The administration has played a very, very bad hand about as well as possible. “They clearly don’t like our overall policy.”Īt least, the official said, an effort to improve ties between the U.S., South Korea and Japan has worked. Despite the invitation to Pyongyang to discuss any matter, any time without preconditions, the regime has responded with silence while launching intercontinental ballistic missiles and possibly preparing for a seventh nuclear test.

“We are deeply frustrated” with North Korea as it proceeds to advance its weapons programs, one of the officials said on the condition of anonymity imposed by President JOE BIDEN’s team.

The Biden administration admits its North Korea policy isn’t working but believes there are no better policy avenues to pursue, two senior administration officials tell NatSec Daily. With help from Erin Banco and Connor O’Brien | Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, watches what it says is a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with a young woman who appears to look like his daughter, in Pyongyang, North Korea on March 16, 2023.

Magic bullet looks 14