This paper critically examines two significant scholarly contributions to the understanding of the Korean Peninsula issue: Maass, M. (2019), “North Korea’s ‘Endgame’: Peaceful Two-State Solution or Coercive Unification?” and Cha, V., & Katz, K.F. (2018), “The Right Way to Coerce North Korea: Ending the Threat without Going to War.” While both articles engage with North Korea’s security dynamics, they approach the problem from differing perspectives—Cha and Katz from a focus on external diplomatic and economic pressures, and Maass from an internal, regime-driven view centered on North Korea’s desire for coercive unification. This review explores the key arguments of both works, compares their contributions, and reflects on their implications for policy and scholarship on the Korean Peninsula.