Does time matter in talking to North Korea? Trump says "we are in no hurry" (a patience, of sorts), but, before July 2017, every week/month not spent talking took North Korea closer to its ICBM. Now, it's slowly attaining its desired nuclear force structure, even as Trump waits.
This administration almost certainly won’t be the one to pursue serious diplomacy with North Korea, but the current approach risks handing off the North Korea "hot potato" yet again—hotter than it'll have ever been.
Capping/reduction becomes more difficult as a result.
Capping/reduction becomes more difficult as a result.
When Kim declared his deterrent "complete" in November 2017, he was referring largely to the qualitative components North Korea needed. 2018 was the year of quantitative expansion, which will continue in 2019 and 2020.
North Korea has its own timetable. "The U.S. should realize before it is too late that "maximum pressure" would not work against us and take a sincere approach to implementing the Singapore DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement." kcnawatch.co/newstream/1544…
And, typically, Pyongyang did not appreciate this step.
