Losing Patience with North Korea

The United States and its allies believed their policy of “strategic patience” would allow them to wait for North Korea to denuclearize on its own, assuming sanctions and international pressure would ultimately force Pyongyang’s hand. However, five years later, with the most recent test of a nuclear bomb and the subsequent long-range rocket launch, the Americans are losing their patience—and they’re not the only ones.

North Korea has launched a nuclear test every three or four years since 2006. Its fourth occurred in January 2016 and was claimed by Pyongyang to be a more powerful hydrogen bomb, though experts have their doubts.

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