Kim Jong Un’s Frustration and the Risk of Hybrid Warfare

EXPERT OPINION — Kim Jong-un is a desperate man. He has long believed that Donald Trump’s unpredictability and their quirky friendship offers him the best, and possibly only, chance of a deal with the United States whereby he could keep some of his nuclear capability and gain a substantial measure of sanctions relief.

At least that was what he thought before the fateful summit in Hanoi in February. When that meeting collapsed he blamed everyone but himself; then-U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton for his notion of a ‘Libya-style’ complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID); South Korean President Moon Jae-in for allegedly suggesting that an agreement with Trump was assured; and his own North Korean delegation for failing him. In fact, it was Kim’s own refusal to offer sufficient nuclear concessions to the Americans (to the dismay of the South Koreans) which scuppered the summit.