Opinion | Does Trump have what it takes to break the North Korean nuclear impasse?
To get Pyongyang to denuclearise, the US must learn from past negotiation mistakes and make Kim Jong-un an offer he can’t refuse
If Trump aims not just to strike a deal, but to prove that he can succeed where others have failed, several questions should be addressed: Was Kim genuinely willing to trade nuclear weapons for a bright future, and if so, is this still his intention? Why did Trump fail to strike a deal with Kim in his first term? Can he learn from past failures and succeed in his second term?
If Kim does have a genuine motivation to denuclearise and if Trump has learned from his mistakes, then negotiations can and should be revived during Trump’s second term to consummate a deal.
To answer the question about Kim’s intentions, we must look into why Kim pursued negotiations in 2018 and 2019 and judge whether these motivations are relevant in 2025. Three key pieces of evidence illustrate Kim’s genuine intention to negotiate in 2018 and 2019 and reveal why he is likely to pursue a deal with Trump in the future.
First, Kim has reportedly shared with US officials that he did not want his children to “live their lives carrying nuclear weapons on their back”, signalling a willingness to denuclearise.