The ROK-US summit, held in Washington between Presidents Park Geun-Hye and Barack Obama on May 7th this year, has produced significant implications for future handling of North Korean issues by the Park administration. Above all, the two leaders agreed upon that North Korea’s nuclear program must be halted and its nuclear-weapon-state status should not be recognized. President Obama offered full support to President Park’s North Korea policy of Korean Peninsula Trust Process, while reassuring United States’ security commitment to Korea with possible employment of various U.S. military capabilities, including potential use of nuclear weapons when it is needed. At the same time, President Park signaled to North Korea that any military provocation, whether large or small, will certainly face its due consequence. She also asserted that North Korea must change. President Park said that she would not just sit idle waiting to see a change in its behavior but would induce it to behave as a responsible member of the international community. The two leaders’ common understandings and shared views as manifested in the summit will help serve as strong foundation for the alliance’s future policies toward North Korea. Meanwhile, two things need to be reaffirmed and recommitted by Seoul and Washington. One is the end state of the North Korean nuclear problem, and the other is the ROK-US alliance’s ultimate goal. A complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) must be set as the end state of any future nuclear talk with North Korea and in the six-party talks. And unification of the Korean peninsula must be the final common goal of the two allies’ North Korea policy. To achieve these, the Park administration must expedite efforts to strengthen ROK’s proactive deterrence capabilities, involving a full range of options for striking the key military spots in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. It also should take full measures to financially support the force-buildup plans. A proper level of defense budget, that will be guaranteed over ten or more years, must be a keystone to the Park administration’s North Korea policy.