What the U.S. is actually getting right on North Korea

It's tempting to give into doom and gloom when we think of North Korea policy. The rapid advances in Pyongyang's weapons technology, coupled with its provocative propaganda about the supposedly impending devastation of America, are enough to make many lose hope for any solution to the current crisis.

President Trump, of course, plays a prominent role in that despair. Trump once offered a relatively optimistic view of how he'd deal with Kim Jong Un, whom he described as a “pretty smart cookie” he would be “honored” to meet. But Trump's sanguine mood about North Korea has apparently vanished. To him, Kim is no longer a naive kid but the nefarious, unstable “Rocket Man.”

In one tweet over the weekend, Trump suggested that negotiations with North Korea were useless. “Only one thing will work!” he said, vaguely and ominously. On Monday, he continued this line of reasoning in another tweet that attacked the economic incentives offered to North Korea under previous administrations. “Policy didn't work!” Trump proclaimed.

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