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Since this essay got retweeted a bunch, here is a similar op-ed by me for Korean readers via @dongamedia: news.donga.com/3/all/20190223…. Basically the argument is that the whole detente process has been undercut from the start by Trump's slothful inability to provide the presidential/1
leadership necessary to persuade or cajole the many stakeholders on NK policy. There are lots of interested parties in SK, Japan, and the US on NK policy. Trump made no effort to reach out to them, gave no programmatic speeches on what his outreach was all about, and didn't /2
bother to learn the issues in even the most basic detail to convince the rest of us that this was a serious reevaluation of the US relationship with NK. As a result, there is no real coalition behind Trump's outreach,and everyone was afraid at both summits that he'd give stuff /3
away, because T doesn't understand the issues, doesn't care about them, and wants a 'win' for domestic reasons. Major presidential initiatives like this are in fact, possible. Bush convinced us that the Iraq war was necessary; Carter got Camp David; Obama got health care.Trump /4
might be able to pull off a re-orientation of Korea policy. There was arguably a unique window after NK's nuclear missilization and the election of Moon Jae-In, a committed dove, as POTROK. But Trump is just too lazy. That's really all it is. He'd rather watch TV than plan a /5
major policy effort which would require listening to his briefers, giving real speeches instead of rallies, learning detail, and so on. This is why his wall, health care reform, and infrastructure have failed too. So before you blame ideological or strategic gaps, Bolton, Moon,/6
nuclear deterrence, the military-industrial complex, or your other pet variable for US-DPRK relations, how about just starting at the beginning? The American lead negotiator is an unread, unlearned, lazy reality TV star with almost no knowledge about Korea, nuclear weapons or /7
missiles, whom no one ever would have selected on merit to lead a US diplomatic initiative on anything. That's 50% of it at least. END
