No one should be surprised if, in the coming months, the leaders of the United States and North Korea seek to recapture their brief, shining moment of promise in June 2018. The Singapore summit marked the first-ever meeting of a sitting American president and chairman of the ruling party of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). Although the resulting four-part joint statement lacked detail or an operational plan of implementation, it nonetheless suggested that longstanding structural, strategic, and ideological divisions that could trigger a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula might yet be amenable to at least stable coexistence. The Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) also may lean into high-level diplomacy to help restore peaceful coexistence with the North.
Meaningful diplomatic progress should be tangible, not just superficial. Yet both the failure of past efforts to find and sustain a breakthrough in U.S.-DPRK relations, and current troubles in world affairs, suggest extreme caution before leaping to the belief that summit diplomacy, even between two strongmen, can dissolve deep seated distrust and clashing national interests. This caution becomes all the more vital amid regional doubts about America’s reliability as a security guarantor and economic partner, and North Korea’s growing conviction that Russia and China are united in their aim to undermine U.S. influence.

Why Summitry Remains Alluring

Dueling Aims of Renewed Diplomacy

Alternative Approaches to Re-engagement

Alliance and Regional Security Ramifications

Guidelines for America's North Korea Policy