North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, looks at U.S. President Donald Trump before their meeting during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 27, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap

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 aForeign Affairs essaythat 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 Washington, D.C.

“The United States should not renounce denuclearization, but policymakers must acknowledge that it is now a distant objective. Moving forward, Washington needs a new strategy that does not let the long-term goal of denuclearization get in the way of its more immediate national security needs,” Cha wrote.

“Denuclearization is a noble goal, but past policy failures and North Korea’s dogged determination to obtain weapons have made it unattainable for now.”

The U.S. should instead prioritize near-term goals such as homeland defense and crisis-management channels, especially as Washington faces “a dizzying array of challenges from China, Russia and Iran,” he added.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told NK News that the essay reflects “recognition of the unsustainability,” or the current diplomatic trajectory many analysts have “long warned about.”

Frank Aum, a former senior Pentagon advisor for Korea during the Obama administration, said that while the argument circulated in Washington for years, Cha’s voice has given it weight.

“What makes Cha’s article unique and potentially effective is the messenger and the message,” Aum told NK News. “He is arguably the most renowned Korea expert in Washington. He’s argued in the past for North Korea’s imminent collapse, he helped design the [complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement] (CVID) strategy, he advocated for pressure and sanctions — and now he’s arguing that denuclearization is dead and that sanctions are ineffective,” Aum said.

Source: Korea Times News