hankyoreh

US President Donald Trump speaks at a reception for the Kennedy Center Honors at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Dec. 6, 2025. (Yonhap)

Neither North Korea nor its denuclearization comes up in the recently published US National Security Strategy of the second Trump administration, prompting a number of different interpretations. The view that this omission is deliberately designed to encourage North Korea-US dialogue clashes with the view that it reflects comparative apathy about the North. Meanwhile, the Korean Office of National Security believes these changes to the US’ National Security Strategy reflect a change in the report’s format.

“This is the first National Security Strategy to be published since 2022, and many things have changed in the interim,” said Kim Hyun-chong, Korea’s first deputy director of national security, in a press briefing about Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s first six months of office. The briefing was held in the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Sunday.

Kim added that the government is currently “carrying out an in-depth analysis” of the US’ updated strategy document. 

Experts have noted the omission of any mention of North Korea. This absence is quite unusual, considering that North Korea was mentioned 17 times in the National Security Strategy released by the first Trump administration in 2017 and three times by the document released by the Biden administration in 2022.

“This must have been on purpose. North Korea was deliberately omitted because its inclusion would have necessitated a reference to ‘denuclearization’ or ‘the North Korean threat,’” said Kim Sung-bae, the president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, in an interview with the Hankyoreh on Sunday.

According to Kim Sung-bae, the document’s silence on the North Korean issue is a strategic move aimed at improving North Korea-US relations by clearing the way for a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

But other commentators think this reflects growing apathy toward the North Korean issue.

“The omission of North Korean denuclearization suggests that the US is losing interest in the North Korean issue and believes it has little bearing on the US’ national interest,” said Yang Uk, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Yang argues that this suggests North Korea is becoming less of a priority than Western Europe or the Middle East in the US’ grand strategy.

But Korea’s national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, offered a completely different reading of the document.

“The reason the US’ National Security Strategy doesn’t mention North Korean denuclearization is that the current writing approach is fundamentally different from in 2022,” Wi told reporters after the press conference at the presidential office on Sunday.

The document, Wi said, describes “America First” as its preeminent value without devoting attention to specific regional conflicts or pending issues.

“I presume that the North Korean issue will be dealt with in a lower profile document to be composed at a later point. It doesn’t seem necessary for us to infer that the US is uninterested in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue or resuming dialogue with the North,” Wi remarked.

According to Wi, there is little point in trying to predict, at least for now, whether or not North Korea-US dialogue will resume — indeed, both outcomes remain a possibility.

Some analysts think that the National Security Strategy mentions the China-Taiwan issue because that is tied to the US’ economic interests.

“Rather than viewing China as a threat that must be broken, the overall tone has been adjusted through the use of the word ‘rebalance.’ The upshot is that the US wants to adjust its relationship with China in a way that serves its interests rather than trying to beat it in a fight,” said Kim Sung-bae.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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