The US-North Korea Conflict

SEP 21 2022·Updated MAR 28 2025

Context

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images [via Foreign Policy]

The Facts

Origins: The United States-North Korea conflict can be traced back to the early years of the Cold War, when the Korean peninsula was divided into two at the 38th parallel. While the United States backed the South, the North joined the Soviet sphere of influence.
World Economic Forum
Distrust Deepens: In the 1950-1953 Korean War, the United States and North Korea fought on opposing sides. Over three years, the US carpet bombed North Korea, decimating the nation and reportedly killing 20% of the population. Three million civilians are believed to have died in the war, primarily in the north.
Intercept
Nuclear Developments: Today's ongoing conflict centers primarily around Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, which it has fostered since the Korean War, during which the United States repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea. Its first nuclear plant, Yongbyon, was built in the 1980s. The US views North Korean nuclear capabilities as a grave security threat.
PBS NewsHour
Diplomacy: Despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, talks between the United States and North Korea have continued. In 1994, after the dissolution of the USSR, the two nations signed the Agreed Framework, with North Korea pledging to halt nuclear development in exchange for moving towards normalized relations. The framework collapsed several years later. North Korea was also a member state of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) from 1985 to 2003.
Global Conflict Tracker
Sanctions: Since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, the United States has unilaterally imposed and supported U.N. sanctions to tackle its nuclear program. Pyongyang has conducted six nuclear tests so far, most recently in 2017. Reportedly, it has up to 50 nuclear warheads, it can produce fissile material for at least six bombs a year, and its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) can reach the continental United States.
Arms Control Center
U.S. Presence: Around 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea as the country houses multiple U.S. military bases, including Camp Humphreys, its largest base overseas. The relevance of U.S. military presence in the Korean peninsula is even higher if troops in Japan are taken into consideration.
Reuters

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

North Korea's actions pose a severe threat to the stability of the Korean peninsula and the security of the rest of the world. The Kim dynasty has run North Korea as a family dictatorship possessed by a delusional ideology and a desire to destabilize East and Southeast Asia. The United States has tried and so far failed to negotiate an end to nuclear weapons in exchange for humanitarian aid — it's time for a military ultimatum.

wapo

Establishment-critical narrative

North Korea's nuclear ambitions are for its own security and independence, and a direct consequence of past U.S. blunders in foreign policy. Successive American administrations have derailed diplomatic routes to denuclearization, and the United States clearly can't be trusted to make good on a deal, especially when it launches large military drills with North Korea's regional adversaries. Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions aim to strengthen its negotiating position.

Foreign Policy

Business Insider

Go Deeper

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