After the Iran Strike: Why Regime Change in North Korea Is the Only Option for Trump

Explore why President Trump may have no choice but regime change to truly “get the conflict solved” with North Korea.

Key Insights

• Trump’s Iran strike signals a revived doctrine of force: The surprise U.S. airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities—paired with Trump’s public call for regime change—demonstrates his willingness to use military power against nuclear-ambitious regimes, if needed.

  
  

• Diplomacy with North Korea is effectively over: Despite Trump’s efforts to engage Kim Jong Un, the 2019 Hanoi summit revealed an irreconcilable gap—Trump wants denuclearization and Kim will not denuclearize.

  
  

• The Kim regime relies on anti-Americanism for regime control: Kim Jong Un has strengthened ties with Russia, China, and Iran, intensified ideological isolation, and continues to rely on anti-Americanism to maintain regime control.

  
  

• Regime change is the only remaining path to resolve the North Korea threat: North Korea’s current trajectory—nuclear acceleration, alliance with authoritarian powers, and nuclear proliferation—poses a global security threat that cannot be solved through negotiation.

  
  

• A multidimensional pressure campaign could succeed without direct U.S. invasion: Regime change does not require another Iraq; targeted economic, cyber, and covert tools could exploit North Korea’s internal instability and force political collapse from within.

A 12-day war between Israel and Iran, sparked by Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, ended with a phased ceasefire brokered by President Trump. But the war’s most shocking moment came when the United States launched a surprise airstrike—Operation Midnight Hammer—targeting three Iranian nuclear facilities with 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs dropped by B-2 bombers. In the aftermath, Trump took to Truth Social and floated a once-taboo idea: regime change in Iran.

Though the war ended with a fragile ceasefire, its implications stretch far beyond the Middle East—particularly for North Korea. The message was clear: Trump is willing to use not only military force against regimes pursuing nuclear weapons, but also to consider regime change, if he believes it's necessary.

1. Trump’s Doctrine: No Patience for Nuclear Deception

The Iran strike revealed the core of Trump’s doctrine: the Trump administration will not be deceived by regimes that pretend to negotiate while secretly advancing their nuclear ambitions. Iran, like North Korea, has long used diplomacy as a smokescreen to buy time. Once Trump determined that diplomacy had reached its limits, he didn’t hesitate to use military force to reset the terms of engagement.

Since entering office, Trump has repeatedly praised his personal rapport with Kim Jong Un. He recently stated he would “get the conflict solved” with North Korea, again referencing his relationship with Kim. But that relationship has yielded no results—and likely never will. Kim hasn’t responded to Trump’s outreach because he cannot. The 2019 Hanoi summit made that painfully clear: Trump came offering a path to denuclearization; Kim demanding sanctions relief while keeping his weapons.

Shortly after U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, a State Department spokesperson reaffirmed the Trump administration’s commitment to the "complete denuclearization" of North Korea—a demand Kim Jong Un fundamentally cannot accept.

2. Diplomacy Is Dead—Anti-Americanism Reigns

At the 75th anniversary of the Korean War’s outbreak on June 25, North Korea staged massive rallies featuring students, women, and workers pledging retaliation against "imperialist U.S. invaders" while watching propaganda films about alleged wartime atrocities. These events are not merely symbolic—they serve as the most powerful ideological tool controlling the people.

Kim has doubled down—not just on nukes, but on ideological isolation. Faced with growing instability fueled by the spread of South Korean culture and outside information, Kim cannot risk engagement with the liberal world. He has instead sealed off his country, aligning himself even more tightly with authoritarian allies—Russia, China, and Iran.

3. Regime Change: The Only Path Forward

   
   

In this context, Kim's future path is clear: he will continue accelerating his nuclear program, strengthening ties with Russia, China, and Iran, and potentially aiding in nuclear proliferation—an alarming trajectory for Washington. This is not just a threat to the Korean Peninsula—it’s an escalating threat to global security.

Skeptics may argue that Trump wouldn’t strike North Korea because of its nuclear arsenal and its geographic proximity to Russia and China. Others warn that attempting regime change could destabilize the region or drag the U.S. into another foreign entanglement. These are valid concerns.

But here’s the hard truth: Trump and Kim are on a collision course. For Kim to survive, he must undermine and outlast the United States. And for the U.S. to secure peace and prevent proliferation, the Kim regime must be brought to an end.

Crucially, regime change does not necessarily require direct U.S. military intervention. North Korea is already in the grip of a deep internal crisis. A combination of economic pressure, cyber disruption, informational warfare, and covert support to dissident networks could tip the balance.

4. A Warning from Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a blunt warning about the conflict with Iran during an interview with ABC News:

His warning applies just as much to North Korea. Like Iran, North Korea is not simply an isolated dictatorship—it is part of a rising authoritarian axis determined to destroy the United States.

Despite his repeated gestures toward engagement, Trump may soon face the ultimate decision: to "get the conflict solved" with North Korea not through diplomacy, but through regime change.

Author: B.J. Choi, founder of NVNK, obtained his Master's degree in Asian Studies from the George Washington University. He previously worked for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), and Cornerstone Ministries International (CMI) on North Korea issues.