North Korea launched its latest inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) test and has claimed success after their fourth firing last week. However, critics believe Pyongyang may be bluffing and is sending out a propaganda campaign to deter any thoughts that the regime is weak, especially with the new hawkish Yoon Seok-yeol administration about to enter the presidential office.

But is our fundamental approach to North Korea denuclearization flawed? Most approaches seek to denuclearize now and ask questions later. The Kim Jong-un dictatorship would never give up its one path to maintain power. Rather, South Korea and its allies should realize how important the nuclear weapons program is for North Korea's conception of its own sovereignty.

Overlooking Pyongyang's anxiety over getting invaded keeps us on the same fruitless hamster wheel of negotiations for negotiations sake and eventually they'll get the nuclear capabilities with or without sanctions if we keep going down this road. Instead, we need to come up with a 'path of possibility' to find a new route for inter-Korean relations and global security.