One More Way for Understanding US-North Korea Enmity and the Possibilities Under the Biden Administration

In this essay, we attempt to use Alexander Wendt’s Hobbesian culture hypothesis to examine three aspects of US-North Korea relationship: (i) what kind of relationship it has belonged to, (ii) why it has not changed for over past 70 years, and (iii) what possible relationship between the USA and North Korea will be under the Biden Administration. The results show that Hobbesian culture has been dominating US-North Korea relations since 1949 when the USA did not recognize North Korea’s sovereignty and then launched unlimited war against North Korea in late 1950. Then the difference in internalization of the USA and North Korea to Hobbesian culture generated two opposing goals: while the USA pursues interests created by the existence of Hobbesian culture, North Korea pursues interests generated by the end of this Hobbesian culture. This is the main factor that has prevented a structural change over past 70 years. Theoretically, there may be at least three possibilities to change the structure of US-North Korea relations under the Biden Administration. But our examination of these possibilities show that it is hard for these possibilities to come true. It is suggested in this essay that the USA should try to improve its relations with North Korea by increasing US-North Korea interdependence. Once the interdependence is generated, the external restraint will be created. And when great enough, the interdependence will improve their relation and even create a structural change in the further future. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.