Timeline of Trumps North Korean Diplomacy

Weatherman2020

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No one has ever had NK go this far towards normalized relations.

March 2017: Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared, "The policy of strategic patience has ended. We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table."

April 2017: While visiting South Korea, Vice President Mike Pence described North Korea's economic and political isolation as the predicate for denuclearization. In April, Washington suggested that China would receive a favorable trade deal if Beijing helped terminate North Korea's nuclear program. Meanwhile, U.S., South Korean and Japanese military exercises near North Korea began to intensify.

June 2017: In Singapore, Secretary of Defense James Mattis addressed North Korea's "clear intent" to acquire nuclear-armed missiles. Mattis said that he believed "China will come to recognize North Korea as a strategic liability, not an asset." Mattis said the U.S. would "engage China diplomatically and economically to ensure our relationship is beneficial." That was a carrot.

September 2017: North Korea tested a powerful nuclear device.

Trump issued an executive order some analysts called a declaration of economic war on North Korea. His administration would exert "maximum pressure" on North Korea until the criminal state denuclearized. The pressure included U.S. Air Force strategic bombers flying "show-of-force" missions around the peninsula, including a foray in international airspace over the East Sea off North Korea's coast. The pressure included psychological pressure on "Little Rocket Man" -- Kim Jong Un. Trump coined that nomme de insult in September, and it was a useful punch.

During the winter, North Korea felt the harsh bite of ever-tighter economic and political sanctions.

On March 5, 2018, Kim Jong Un said he was willing to do something he had said he would never do: discuss denuclearizing his regime. He made no demand of South Korea and the U.S., other than that they meet to discuss the subject, face to face.

To be continued.

Austin Bay's On PointThe Trump Administration's Korea Diplomacy Timeline
 

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