During his presidency, Donald Trump broke the mold of U.S. diplomacy. His direct engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was strong, visionary and potentially game-changing.
Yet, while the media focused heavily on Trump’s summits and high-profile diplomacy, they overlooked an equally significant aspect of North Korea’s strategy: its sophisticated and dangerous cyber operations. Under President Trump’s leadership, there was a growing recognition of this threat, but the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to prioritize this area has allowed North Korea’s cyber army to grow virtually unchecked.
As North Korea increasingly focuses on cyber operations to fund its nuclear and missile programs, it’s evident that only a strong, assertive leader like Trump can successfully counter this blended threat. The Biden-Harris administration’s emphasis on traditional diplomatic and military solutions has left the United States vulnerable to North Korea’s ever-expanding cyber arsenal. What we need now is a return to the kind of decisive leadership that Trump exemplified — leadership that can bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
For decades, North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests have made headlines. However, this has allowed Pyongyang’s cyber capabilities to fly under the radar, funneling billions of dollars into the regime’s coffers. The North Korean cyber threat, particularly under the notorious Lazarus Group within its intelligence apparatus, poses a growing danger not only to U.S. critical infrastructure, but also to millions of hard-working Americans.
Despite this, the Biden-Harris administration has largely ignored the connection between North Korea’s cyber operations and its missile and nuclear programs. President Trump recognized that sanctions alone were not enough to deter Pyongyang. Instead, what the United States needed was a comprehensive strategy that included both diplomatic outreach and aggressive countermeasures against the regime.
In the months leading up to and following the February 2019 Trump-Kim Nuclear Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, an interesting pattern was established. Public attribution for North Korean cyberattacks diminished. Trump understood that public attribution of North Korea’s cyberattacks could have derailed the fragile negotiations. This tactical restraint may have created a brief window where diplomacy held the upper hand over the North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Instead of building on Trump’s groundbreaking diplomacy and recognizing the intertwined nature of North Korea’s cyber and nuclear threats, Biden and Harris have reverted to outdated strategies that have done little to curb the regime’s desire for a nuclear deterrent. In 2022 alone, North Korean cyber operations brought in over $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency theft and ransomware payments — funds that were funneled into the regime’s missile and nuclear programs. Further, this administration recently established the Washington Declaration, a bilateral agreement with South Korea focused on deterring North Korean nuclear activities. However, nowhere in this agreement is there a single mention of deterring North Korean cyber activity.
The current state of U.S. policy toward North Korea is not sustainable. Sanctions and diplomatic efforts under the current administration have proven ineffective. Trump’s willingness to engage directly with Kim Jong Un showed that diplomacy does not have to come at the expense of national security. Rather, it can be a powerful tool in reducing tensions and limiting the resources available for North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
North Korea’s cyber operations are not just a financial threat; they are a direct enabler of its nuclear ambitions. While it appears that Biden and Harris have failed to recognize this connection, Trump’s leadership demonstrated that a strong, multifaceted approach can yield real results. A second Trump term can disrupt North Korea’s revenue streams, delay its nuclear advancements, and secure a safer future for America.
Christian Gentile is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). During his tenure at SAIS, he focused on the Indo-Pacific and published his thesis in partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on Chinese Belt and Road projects in Southeast Asia.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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