Short Half-Life for Peaceful Korean Peninsula after Olympics

Bottom Line: North and South Korean Olympians may be marching together come February after Tuesday’s breakthrough talks – the first between the two sides in two years – but North Korea’s staunch refusal to discuss its nuclear weapons program means a likely return to nuclear impasse after the Olympic games conclude. The demands of the major players remain the same: the U.S. would not approve of the removal of U.N.-imposed sanctions or a cessation of joint military exercises without an agreement from Pyongyang to freeze its missile testing and acquisition of nuclear weapons; nor would North Korea agree to negotiations without concessions from others. But the talks show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take advantage of an international event like the Olympics to make an end run around the Trump administration and the international community, after an extended period of heightened tensions and bellicose rhetoric over its provocative missile launches.

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