The US is demanding North Korea deliver them a full list of all locations of their nuclear arms at an upcoming summit. There is still no date for the summit, and indications are it is being delayed. North Korea is expressing frustration at the US approach to talks, centering entirely on threats.
South Korea has a major interest in seeing US-North Korea talks successful, and while reluctant to publicly criticize the US, they are quietly pushing the US to do something about the lack of confidence, saying they need to build trust with the north.
Inter-Korean diplomacy seems a good example of this, with both sides making a number of measures back and forth building confidence, and making tremendous progress. The Trump Administration has so far refused to take any actio until North Korea fully disarms its nuclear program.
North Korea is increasingly suspicious of a plan wherein they’d be unilaterally giving the US everything they want for years on end in the hope of the US granting them peace at the end, when they’re no longer able to defend themselves.
And the fact that North Korean state media is expressing reticence about this plan has US officials threatening more sanctions and measures against them. South Korean officials warn the two could be trapped in this cycle forever unless the US is willing to make at least some steps toward improving the process.
Sure, we’re still at war, but if you want to end the war give us the geographical coordinates of all your
targetsfacilities so we can dial in our missile launchers. . . .What’s that, you want the coordinates of all our nuclear facilities? Well hell no. That ain’t fair.If not for South Korea this whole thing would have been dead in the water long ago.
North Korea is helping, just not the way the US wants to see it.
That’s the American dogma, diplomacy = threats, and you end conflict with overwhelming domination and absolute victory or the war continues forever. The “indispensable nation” and “world’s only superpower” is entitled to give others what they want last if ever. Trump is just taking our classic position to new extremes of rigidity.