Wall Street Journal (September 10)
“South Korea is at a crossroads, but every direction seems to lead to a dead end. Just as the world wakes up from the decadeslong daydream of North Korean denuclearization, the U.S.—South Korea’s longtime defense partner—has grown unreliable.” A poll conducted by the Korean Herald “found 60% of South Koreans don’t trust the U.S. to use its nuclear weapons to protect Seoul from a North Korean attack.” The lack of confidence in its “ally may convince Seoul that there’s no other way to deter Kim Jong Un” than by procuring nuclear weapons of its own.
Tags: Ally, Crossroads, Daydream, Dead end, Defense, Denuclearization, Kim, Korean Herald, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Partner, Protect, Seoul, South Korea, Trust, U.S., Unreliable
New York Magazine (July 23)
Donald Trump is “slowly realizing it’s North Korea’s reality show, not his.” The President “seems to be learning, the hard way, that epic peace deals with foreign leaders work a lot better when those deals actually exist before celebrating or trying to implement them. North Korea has been blowing the U.S. off since the summit, leaving denuclearization negotiations at a standstill, and the impatient Trump has been fuming at aides about it.”
Tags: Celebrating, Denuclearization, Impatient, Learning, Negotiations, North Korea, Reality show, Standstill, Summit, Trump, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (March 27)
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid a surprise visit to China this week, in his first known foreign trip since taking power in late 2011.” With upcoming U.S. and South Korean summits approaching, “analysts say the trip appears to be an effort to mend fences with Beijing, as Washington stakes out a tougher line on denuclearization talks planned for May.”
Tags: Analyst, China, Denuclearization, Kim, North Korea, South Korea, Summits, U.S.
