When it comes to North Korea, Western interest tends to wax and wane: from the Barack Obama-era approach of tactical patience to the Donald Trump bombast of summits, fire and fury.
These days, the spotlight is elsewhere. With the devastation in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas absorbing most of the political oxygen in the U.S., Pyongyang seems of so little concern to the average American that it no longer even figures on the list the country’s biggest enemies.
In an annual Gallup poll asking respondents who is America’s greatest foe, just 4% answered North Korea this year, down from 51% in 2018, and behind even the U.S. itself. Despite jitters after Pyongyang’s outright rejection of reunification earlier this year, the administration of President Joe Biden remains far more focused on Beijing than Pyongyang, and the missile launches that once caused terror across global markets now elicit snoozes.