February 15, 2019
North Korea Needs a Real Deal, Not a Trump Special
The Hanoi summit can be a step forward—if both sides commit.
The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be a decisive moment. Another meeting that ends, as Singapore did, with faux peace over genuine denuclearization steps and more front-loading of strategically important U.S. concessions will botch any chance of rolling back Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons capability, which has advanced to unprecedented levels.
That will force the world to live permanently with a regime that has yet to learn the basics of being a responsible nuclear state and continues to violate human rights. The Vietnam summit this month will determine whether real denuclearization of North Korea is possible ever, and how much Washington is willing to pay for it, while ensuring the regime’s survival and the country’s prosperity.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.