Americans, stop the moral grandstanding on North Korea and get down to business | NK News
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September 16, 2026Sep 16, 2026

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Americans, stop the moral grandstanding on North Korea and get down to business

Rather than pointing fingers, hawks and doves will need to address their own faults in order to make progress in 2021

The following article is an opinion piece by Rob York, director for regional affairs at the Pacific Forum. Views expressed in opinion articles and columns are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

If the U.S. is to make any progress on the North Korea issue going forward, both “engagers” and “containers” are going to have to stop their moral grandstanding and ask themselves some difficult questions.

Essentially, an engager is someone who thinks that a peaceful outreach program toward North Korea, such as the Agreed Framework or South Korea’s former “Sunshine policy,” will eventually