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Opinion
As North Korea doubles down on its nuclear weapons, Trump and the US are stuck with ‘strategic patience’
- From the ‘fire and fury’ days of Donald Trump’s opening year as president, the US seems to have come full circle to the Obama era’s approach to North Korea
- Slowing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and adjusting militarily to nuclear weapons on the peninsula are more realistic than demanding complete denuclearisation
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Rob York is a Hawaii-based policy analyst.
What happened to North Korean officials in charge of diplomacy with the US? As frequently occurs with the opaque dealings of the North’s leadership, the signals have been mixed – especially common with reports coming from Seoul’s intelligence sources via the anti-communist wing of South Korea’s media.
From what we can gather, Kim Yong-chol, vice-chairman of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, survived the affair with his life and career intact despite reports of a purge.
As for special envoy to the US Kim Hyok-chol, the latest reports are that he was not executed, though he may be going through the North Korean version of career counselling in a re-education camp. This would signify North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s dissatisfaction with the results of negotiations with the US administration since the Hanoi summit breakdown – if earlier signals weren’t clear enough.
North Korea has, since the summit, tested short-range projectiles, which the pro-dialogue government in Seoul has played down and US President Donald Trump refuses to admit he worries about.
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