Deals, Deadlocks, and Deterrence: Scenarios for Renewed US–North Korea Diplomacy

Excerpt:  “It is far easier for the United States to avoid direct diplomacy with North Korea than to chart a realistic path for high-level engagement that reduces risks. The United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) remain technically in a state of war nearly three-quarters of a century after the 1953 armistice. Prior to the first-ever summit between an American and North Korean leader, the prospects for diplomacy looked bleak. Yet the historic June 2018 meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore briefly raised hopes for a new diplomatic framework. In the seven years since, US-DPRK relations have reverted to a familiar pattern of estrangement, widening considerably after the failed Hanoi summit in February 2019 and throughout President Joe Biden’s four-year term. Now, three developments have revived the possibility of renewed high-level diplomacy.”