Get Ready for a Big, Bold, and Very Bad North Korea Deal: Trump Wants a Win, and Kim Has More Leverage Than Ever

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1. [SS from essay by Victor Cha, D. S. Song–Korea Foundation Chair and University Professor at Georgetown University, President of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and author of [*The Black Box: Demystifying the Study of Korean Unification and North Korea*](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-black-box/9780231211093/). He served on the Defense Policy Board during the Biden administration and as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration.]

   Donald Trump’s return to the White House has shaken up U.S. approaches to trade, Ukraine, the Middle East, and more. But so far, the Trump administration has paid little attention to North Korea even as the rogue dictatorship has grown stronger and more provocative. Just this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has conducted five missile tests, stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency, sent more troops to support Russia’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, and unveiled his military’s largest modern missile destroyer, a 5,000-ton warship equipped with state-of-the-art armament. Kim has filled his coffers by selling billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Russia, improved his military with lessons learned from the Ukraine war, and buttressed his aerial, missile, naval, and nuclear forces with Moscow’s technical support and hardware transfers.

   Leaving North Korea to its own devices will not end well. Left unchallenged, the country could perform more nuclear tests; strengthen its ties with China, Iran, and Russia; and build more advanced weapons that could credibly threaten the U.S. homeland. During the first hundred days of Trump’s first and second presidencies, Pyongyang has undertaken more [belligerent acts](https://www.csis.org/analysis/trumps-second-term-starts-inaction-over-north-koreas-missile-provocations) against the United States and South Korea than it has during any same period since the Nixon administration. It would be national security malpractice to ignore such ominous signals.

2. Yeah, I guess Kim is gift wrapping another luxury jet for Trump in exchange for a “breakthrough deal”.

3. Hooh boy, absolutely none of that makes me happy. DPRK got sanctions relief in exchange for joining Russias war, we lost our biggest card to play for nothing. Now it’s gonna be ugly

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