A former National Security Council official who long championed the U.S.’s policy on North Korea’s denuclearization has declared it a “failure,” saying Washington’s “overreliance on sanctions” was a mistake.

In a Foreign Affairs essay that drew weeks of editorials and ministerial-level responses in Seoul, Victor Cha, the NSC’s director for Asian Affairs during the George W. Bush administration, argued Washington should pursue a “cold peace” with Pyongyang and face North Korea “as it is.” 

Cha currently serves as the president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in