The Hanoi Summit – We Asked Katharine Moon What Happens Next in U.S.-North Korea Relations

Katharine Moon

Security, Asia

"The collapse of the Hanoi Summit is the best thing that could have happened for U.S. – DPRK diplomacy."

The collapse of the Hanoi Summit is the best thing that could have happened for U.S.–North Korean diplomacy. Rather than an end, it signaled the start of substantive negotiations to come. There were important lessons: First, president Donald Trump’s self-designated “charm offensive” cannot denuclearize North Korea. Second, Pyongyang will be slow to give up nuclear assets and knows how to drive a hard bargain. Facts serve as a better foundation than hype about the two leaders’ beautiful friendship. Third, real negotiations require working-level counterparts that pursue respective and mutual interests and doggedly endure the ups and downs of diplomacy. Fourth, Washington and Pyongyang will have to look each other in the eye rather than look askance at Seoul to mediate and translate intentions and interests. Fifth, the remainder of 2019 is a contained time period in which the two sides can either make or break their engagement. For instance, come 2020, election fever will take over the Trump administration with little bandwidth for painstaking diplomacy.