For decades, American policymakers have operated under the assumption that North Korea's nuclear ambitions could be managed through a familiar diplomatic playbook: engagement, negotiation, and the calculated dispensation of sanctions relief and security assurances. This approach, rooted in the belief that Pyongyang's provocations were fundamentally transactional in nature, has shaped multiple rounds of talks from the Agreed Framework through the Six-Party Talks to the Trump-Kim summits. Each iteration followed a predictable pattern—diplomatic engagement aimed at denuclearization in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees, broad international sanctions to pressure North Korea into negotiations, and offers of non-aggression pacts or peace treaties in return for steps toward denuclearization.