Nuke Mission Accomplished, Kim Jong Un Shifts to Economy
On Saturday, North Korea announced it was suspending nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing, ahead of this week’s summit with South Korea and ahead of […] More
Diplomacy
Debating Risk and Blowback on North Korea
Cipher Brief experts debated the risk versus blowback of striking North Korea before it has a chance to strike the continental United States, at The […] More
Don’t Over-Hype the Trump-Kim Summit
Public reactions to prospects for a breakthrough at a Trump-Kim summit are proving a triumph of hope over experience. North Korea has been feeling the […] More
UK National Security Adviser: Russia Expulsions Just First Step
As Russia was announcing who it would kick out over the mass expulsion of Russian spies over a nerve agent attack in Britain, the U.K.’s […] More
Trump and Kim Jong Un: Let’s Make a Deal
President Donald Trump has agreed to meet with Kim Jong Un and the other players, China and North Korea, are preparing. The question is: How […] More
Kicking Out Russian Spies May Give US Intel Black Eye
The U.S., EU and other Western allies announced Monday that they would expel a total of more than 100 Russian diplomats they claim are spies, […] More
How South Korea – and North Korean Intel Chiefs – Got Trump to Say Yes
The key to understanding the remarkable developments over North Korea in recent weeks is that the two Koreas have been working jointly to manage the […] More
Trump “Being Magnanimous” with Kim-Will He Reciprocate?
On Thursday, South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong announced that President Donald Trump had accepted an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim […] More
With the Olympic Games Done, Let the Talks with North Korea Begin
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closed on Sunday, but the games may have opened the door for dialogue between the United States and North Korea. Following […] More
Will US Hard Bargaining with South Korea Create an Opening for Pyongyang?
Bottom Line: While the Trump administration has recently pressured South Korea on trade practices, the two nations remain united on pushing North Korea toward denuclearization, […] More
Don’t Talk to Kim if Nukes Are Off the Table
North Korea’s Olympic delegation has left Pyeongchang, and stuck South Korean President Moon Jae-in with a decision: whether to accept an invitation to Pyongyang for […] More
Blood and Quicksand: Moscow and UN Vie for Syria Peace
Bottom Line: Multiple rounds of peace talks aimed at ending Syria’s seven-year civil war have failed to yield results or relieve a catastrophic humanitarian crisis […] More
Give Peace, and Sanctions, a Chance
“Talk today.” That’s the substance of recent advice Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been giving to President Donald Trump about North Korea. Former U.S. Ambassador to […] More
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 […] More
Korea Talks: Warm Front Before Winter Games
North and Sound Korea have held their first high-level meeting in two years – agreeing to send North Korean athletes to the upcoming Olympics in […] More
Getting the Best Out of Moscow
Russia’s annexation of Crimea, intervention in eastern Ukraine, and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election have escalated distrust and rancor between the U.S. and […] More
Trump’s North Korea Policy? Tillerson, McMaster Diverge
Conflicting signals about whether the U.S. is prepared to resume talks with North Korea raise questions about what conditions, if any, might be imposed and […] More
View: Washington Is Outsourcing the Qatar Crisis
The Trump administration is outsourcing the Qatar crisis to Kuwait, banking on the Kuwaiti monarch to bring the months-long crisis to a close. But ahead […] More