His economic aspirations have been hampered by US-led sanctions
For more than a decade, world countries have pushed economic and financial sanctions against North Korea to put pressure on it to denuclearize. In addition, sanctions have been implemented to hold the government accountable for cyberattacks, money laundering, and human rights violations. Although the North Korean economy has suffered greatly as a result of these sanctions, analysts claim that their efficacy has been compromised by certain nations' inability to implement them and other businesses' willingness to break them. However, many skeptics doubt that even if the sanctions were reinforced, the desired result would still be achieved.
Over the years, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has engaged in a wide range of actions that have prompted sanctions from the international community. The development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles is foremost among them. The leadership of North Korea, under successive Kims, views nuclear weapons as the only way to ensure its existence. Pyongyang claims that the region's American military installations and the frequent war simulations that Washington and its allies conduct pose a danger to the country's survival. The DPRK signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1985 but later withdrew, blaming American hostility, in 2003. Three years later, it conducted its first nuclear test. Former commanders of the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, Vincent Brooks and Ho Young Leem, wrote for Foreign Affairs that the current leader, Kim Jong-un, views nuclear weapons as "a military asset, an insurance policy, and a tremendous source of prestige all in one." They claim that Kim is desperate to avoid making the same mistake after seeing regimes in the Ukraine, Iraq, and Libya fall after giving up their nuclear weapons.
Since the 1990s, there have been several failed attempts at bilateral and multinational discussions on disarmament. The United States suspended a number of high-profile military drills with South Korea following the June 2018 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore, the first meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders; however, the declaration it signed with North Korea did not result in concrete steps for denuclearization or lifting of sanctions. In February 2019, the leaders' second conference came to an early conclusion due to conflicting demands from both sides. Since then, negotiations have been deadlocked, and Kim has increased his missile testing, firing more missiles in 2022 than ever before. U.S. Presidents Yoon Suk-Yeol of South Korea and Joe Biden of the United States have vowed to increase joint military exercises while urging Pyongyang to resume negotiations.
