Trump 2.0 and North Korea: There Will be No Reconciliation Available to Purchase

In many ways, Trump 2.0 is shaping up to be as unpredictable as Trump 1.0, but the Trump administration’s policy toward North Korea is likely to be a notable exception. The overwhelming focus on Trump’s rhetoric and his personal relationship with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un masked the reality that Trump was actually quite conventional in his DPRK policy. His approach followed that of his predecessors: demanding complete denuclearization while downplaying North Korean concerns of security and prosperity. We expect the future to be like the past: full of bombast but substantively ineffective. As for the DPRK, all signs indicate the North Koreans have abandoned hope of reconciliation with the US. This new belief has been codified in their constitution and underlined by both actions and rhetoric. Challenges in US–DPRK relations are likely to continue through the remainder of the Trump presidency.