Why Trump should make peace with the idea of a nuclear North Korea and focus on deterrence instead
Louis René Beres says it’s time for the US to accept that North Korea cannot and will not give up its nuclear weapons and to work out how to move on from here
Trump should focus on concessions that his counterpart in Pyongyang might be expected to consider. To expect that Kim would surrender his most meaningful source of national and international power is foolhardy.
Watch: Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ on North Korea summit
If the US calculates that its North Korean counterpart is not fully rational, incentives to undertake a military pre-emption could become more compelling
Prospective diplomatic contests should be less about curtailing specific North Korean weapons systems than about diminishing overall enemy threats from Pyongyang. Predictably, each side, as long as it remains rational, will seek viable forms of “escalation dominance”. Washington and Pyongyang will each strive to control the pace of escalation without endangering its own prospects for national security.