Nuclear negotiations of the United States and North Korea; an ontological security approach

The friendship emerged between the leaders of the United States and North Korea in 2018, leading to three direct meetings between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, strengthened the possibility of ending the North Korean nuclear crisis. However, these meetings did not prevent North Korea from continuing its nuclear and missile programs, and negotiations with the U.S ended without results. Exploiting the ontological security perspective, the purpose of this research is to explore the reasons for the continuation of North Korea's nuclear programs despite those summitry meetings and provision of political and financial incentives to North Korea to end its nuclear and missile activities. The research, utilizing an analytical-explanatory method, tried to explain the failure of nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States during Trump's Presidency (2018-2020) from the ontological security approach. The research assumes that the effort to maintain the biographical narrative of the leaders of North Korea based on Juche ideology and the rigid attachment to competitive and hostile routines with the United States explain the continuation of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs and the failure of North Korea-US nuclear negotiations during Trump's Presidency. Any disturbance in this routine would have resulted in a break from the biographical narrative and caused anxiety and uncertainty and as a result ontological insecurity.