‘Trump should give talk with North Korea a chance’

With US President Donald Trump’s administration raising the prospect for direct talks with North Korea amid an inter-Korean Olympics detente, the US should pursue dialogue if Pyongyang continues to suspend nuclear and missile tests until after the Olympics, Washington-based security scholars said.

In an email interview with The Korea Herald, the analysts noted such initial talks without preconditions are necessary to determine North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and their intentions before it becomes too late to deter a nuclear-armed North Korea capable of attacking the US mainland. 

The scholars, however, warned that the North’s reluctance toward denuclearization efforts would prompt the US to return to a “maximum pressure” campaign, suggesting that seeking dialogue is not a policy shift of the Trump administration, but part of its strategy of alternating pressure and engagement. 

Read the full article in The Korea Herald.