The foreign policy in the US

The foreign policy in the US

The foreign policy in the US spans across many countries such as North Korea, China, Israel, Afghanistan, and Mexico, among many others. America’s involvement, with the mentioned countries, is for the prevention of looming war, balancing of economic power, and dealing with terrorists or government rebels.  The focus of this paper will be the US foreign policy on North Korea. North Korea has, for the past years, been performing nuclear tests. These tests are dangerous and are seen as a means by the country to intimidate and threaten other countries. The US is involved with North Korea because its foreign policy sees this act as a threat to peace and security in America.

The executive is simply the president and his advisors. The US has expressed that there are two ways of dealing with North Korea’s continuous testing of its nuclear weapons. The first is military war, and the second is talks coupled with sanctions.  On the North Korea foreign policy, the president, Donald Trump, has taken a lead role in facilitating talks with Kim Jong.

When Trump assumed his seat as the president, he came up with the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign. This campaign was a sanction targeted towards the economy of North Korea. He felt that North Korea would rethink about nuclearization and focus more on stabilizing its own economy. During Trump’s meeting with Kim, their talk revolves around ending sanctions on the US part and denuclearization on the North Korean side.

Another role of the president towards North Korea’s foreign policy is to ensure that all options have been exhausted before turning to military action. The president is mandated to hold onto the diplomatic path as a means of providing a way forward for North Korea. North Korea has often gone against the agreement that was met during the talks. It does this by doing more nuclear tests. Despite this blatant disobedience of the reached agreement, Trump simply downplays the launches.

So far, President Trump has been able to convince North Korea to freeze its nuclear and long-range missile tests. However, this success is not concrete enough to assure the world of long-standing peace and security because North Korea is still involved in the nuclear test and nuclearization of its country.

Currently, the talks are still underway. However, critics fear that the talks will lead nowhere. This is because they are centered on familiar issues, on who will consent and back-down first. There are no new issues being brought up at the meetings, and they question whether the US is truly able to deal with the North Korea issue.

When it comes to the legislative branch of the government, it is simply the Congress. Congress has had a significant role to play in the US-North Korea foreign policy. First, they are in charge of oversight functions. Congress has, over the years, defined what success means when it comes to this matter. It has also identified the possible causes of failure and success by looking at and increasing the preparedness of the US in dealing with North Korea.

When President Trump introduced the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, Congress supported him at the beginning. The Congress even went as far as calling for strict repercussions against a number of Chinese banks that were alleged to be facilitating illegal trade in North Korea.  However, as time went by some members thought that his demonstration of aggression and willingness to fight was uncalled for.  Congress pushed for human rights to be the focus of this foreign policy.

The legislative branch of the government has been involved with this foreign policy through hearings, fact-finding delegations, and reports on the policy. As the talks between the two presidents continue, the legislature will have more responsibilities to deal with. One such role might be to pass laws that provide protection against any traps that Kim might seek to explore. Also, Congress can provide Trump with some suggestions on how to fasten the diplomacy talks such as performing certain acts of goodwill towards North Korea. Congress can also pass laws that decrease the number of sanctions as a move towards peace.

Both the executive and the legislative branches of the government should be more involved in the North Korean foreign policy. The president is the face of the talks and, therefore, has a huge role to play in this matter. The Congress, on the other hand, has the power to influence the sanctions, funding, call to war, and peace agreements.

These sanctions have been supported by some international agencies such as the United Nations. The United Nations is a body that was formed in 1945 with the main purpose of maintaining international peace and security. As expected, the launching of nuclear weapons has been viewed as an imminent threat to the security of people around the world. The UN has a responsibility towards future generations by making sure that they will not face or suffer from the scourges of war. Nuclear weapons are the world’s most deadly weapons. They can wipe out an entire city from miles away. They should be handled with care and not used as a way to threaten or cowardice other nations. If the UN leaves North Korea with this kind of power, peace is at stake. There is a high probability that the US will also take military action that may escalate to decades of unimaginable terror and horrors for both countries.

As a result, the UN Security Council team has held various talks to discuss North Korea’s mission launches. The team came up with resolutions that were meant to discourage North Korea from stopping with the launches, but a recent report from the UN has shown that the country has regularly violated the resolutions. The UN has joined the US in its economic sanctions towards North Korea.

One sanction by the UN is the banning of North Korean mineral export. Another one is the restriction of imports needed in the agricultural sector, such as fertilizers, fuel, and machinery. The organization has also gone further to stop new permits for overseas North Korean workers. The UN has also placed quantitative caps on the sale of refined petroleum and crude oil in North Korea.

With these sanctions, the US and UN hope that the citizens of North Korea will bend under pressure and force the regime to change its position on a nuclear weapon. They are hoping that after weighing between the two options, continuing with nuclear testing and integrating into the global economy, they will opt for the latter choice as it results in immediate benefits.

The problem is that since the sanctions, there has been little progress. North Korean is a country that was formed after intense wars. The North Koreans feel that the US and South Korea are waiting for the right opportunity to completely destroy them. Therefore, these sanctions, that are affecting the normal citizens of the country greatly, simply justify their long-held beliefs.

Despite the little progress, the role of the UN cannot be overemphasized enough, when it comes to dealing with such foreign policies. This is because the UN is an internationally recognized body that is seen as neutral. When individual governments are involved, the other country might feel that they are doing so because of personal and self-driven reasons. However, with the UN, there is a higher likelihood of the country listening to their side of view and reach an agreement that will prevent wars and insecurity.

Furthermore, the UN and other such international organizations need to be involved because they have, for many years, been dealing with security and peace issues. Consequently, there are better equipped in handling such matters. The UN, in particular, has been the leader in maintain peace in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Guatemala.

In conclusion, the US executive and legislative branch and the UN are involved with North Korea and its tests of nuclear weapons. They all have a huge role to play in the prevention of the matter escalating out of proportion. The executive is the face of the country, while the legislative branch makes laws that can fasten the process and prevent war. The UN is performing its main objective of maintaining international peace and security.