The arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier at a port in South Korea this past week led the Defense Minister of North Korea, No Kwang Chol, to threaten ‘offensive action’ as Washington and Seoul agree on strengthening military ties.

According to a report by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Defence Minister of North Korea stated, “We will show more offensive actions against enemies’ threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength”. Before this, North Korea fired ballistic missile launches towards the sea off its east coast. This action followed Washington’s announcement of new sanctions targeting eight North Korean nationals and two entities accused of laundering money tied to cybercrimes, along with a visit to South Korea by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In Seoul, Hegseth spoke in a press conference, alongside South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-Back, where he emphasized the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea would be used in any conflicts beyond the peninsula. Hegseth also stated that protecting against nuclear-armed North Korea is the goal of the alliance with South Korea. As a result, the North Korean defence minister accuses the allies of conspiring to join their nuclear and conventional weapons.

Although it is clear that the U.S. and North Korea have no diplomatic alliance, due to their inability to communicate and agree in negotiations following their fallout in 2018, it is important for the U.S. to approach North Korea with a pragmatic and nuanced strategy.  The history between North Korea and the U.S. has influenced internal transformation for North Korea, which has prioritized nuclear weapons as the only guarantor of regime survival. As a global power, the U.S. has the power to mediate peaceful resolutions in the Korean Peninsula, without instigation North Korea.

The U.S currently holds no diplomatic relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the stalemate of this partnership can be attributed to the 2018 Singapore meeting, where a defining chapter of reconciliation, emphasizing peace and new relations, collided with marked asymmetries of expectation. Washington demanded complete disarmament from North Korea. In exchange, North Korea required sanctions relief and security protection. However, negotiations abruptly ended due to miscommunication and the inability to agree on fulfilling each other’s expectations. Furthermore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the U.S political transition, has brought both countries’ relationship to a stalemate and has remained this way ever since. This rivalry has also led North Korea to renounce its five-decade policy of peaceful unification with South Korea, which now considers Seoul as the primary foe.

Despite the absence of formal ties between Washington and Pyongyang, it is clear that the history of these two adversaries continues to impact Korean Peninsula relations. Moving forward, as the military alliance between the U.S. and South Korea continues to develop, it will likely lead to a sense of protection for South Korea but may influence North Korea to take offensive action as they have promised. Thus, the alliance’s focus on deterring North Korea will be vital in shaping North Korea’s military strategy and behavior in the region.