Shortly before the holidays, North Korean officials clearly stated that they'll never give up their nuclear weapons unless the United States does so well. And that's obviously never going to happen.
But don't worry; everything is fine because Donald Trump has received another love letter from Kim Jong-un.
From Bloomberg:
President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent him a “great letter” and that the two men would both like to meet for a second time.
“We’ve really established a very good relationship,’’ Trump said Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, a day after Kim threatened to backtrack on promises to give up his nuclear arsenal if the U.S. doesn’t relax sanctions against the country.
The pattern should be abundantly clear at this point for anyone who with functioning eyes and ears.
The North Koreans are fully aware that Trump is an unparalleled narcissist. Kim Jong-un is going to string Trump along until he's out of office by continuously making vague overtures that sound appealing to Trump or flatter him in some way. Trump is all too happy to buy into this scheme because each false promise serves his own confirmation-bias and reassures him that he is a good president.
I believe the Democrat nominee for president in 2020 should take this issue seriously and develop their own proposals for dealing with North Korea because it's going to land in their lap the moment Trump is out of office if not before then.
I'm not a geopolitical or diplomatic analyst so I can't say what the solution is (can anyone?) but I think it's safe to say this issue is not going away. It could even get much worse for the next president.