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The aim of this chapter is to examine the efficiency of Prime Minister Abe’s hardline policy towards North Korea under his second administration. The analysis is conducted through the lenses of neoclassical realism. Apart from domestic factors (Abe’s “hawkish” convictions and anti-North Korean moods among the public in Japan), external stimuli will be examined, such as the US’s sudden shift towards soft-power policy vis-à-vis Pyongyang under the Trump administration and its impact on Tokyo’s foreign policy. It is argued that while ideological leanings of decision makers influenced the pace and intensity of diplomatic endeavors, it is the international determinants that delineated the general course of Japan’s foreign policy.

The Article examines the North Korean missile crisis situation. It starts with providing a background of North Korean nuclear program and identifying primary drivers of North Korea’s continued interest in weapons of mass destruction. The article analyses hypothetical solutions like military action and the ineffectiveness of the economic sanctions. The three solutions to North Korean case start with a plan to prepare a policy of regime transition, and are followed with an explanation why making Pyongyang feel more secure and helping to improve its country economy are crucial to achieving American goal, which is at least freezing its country nuclear weapons program.

This study applies four alleged “sins” of American foreign policy – ignorance, lack of empathy, quick resort to military action, and arrogance – to America’s failed policy regarding the North Korean nuclear program. While that failure cannot be attributed directly to the sins, there is evidence that an approach not characterized by them might lead to better results