The failure of the Hanoi summit was followed by upbeat projections for
future talks by both the US and North Korea. With no clarity on when
future talks will take place, administration officials are now less
optimistic, and more hawkish, about what is to come.
US special envoy Stephen Biegun said that diplomacy is “still very much alive,”
but the good news ended there. Biegun followed this up by hyping the
possibility of a rocket test, something officials had been downplaying
as recently as yesterday. John Bolton, who downplayed that idea, is now focusing on US opposition to any tests.
Perhaps the biggest problem for diplomacy, however, is that Biegun is
now saying that the US opposes doing any incremental denuclearization,
saying the US could never agree to a phased approach.
While the US has always made full denuclearization its end goal, the
reality of a phased process was also generally accepted. While President
Trump had long said there was no rush on North Korea, the new position
seems to stake out an unattainable ideal of full, instant
denuclearizaiton as the only thing the US will accept, after a year of
accepting North Korea could never deliver that.
I do not think “hawkish” is the proper adjective-it is and always has been “my way or the high way. As long as bolton is involved, forget any meaningful discussion. Bolton in, agreement out. trump is a bystander.
If I understood the reports on the repairs of that site correctly it was a matter of repair of one or more doors and the roof of what must have been a rather rickety building. And that constitutes “preparation for a rocket launch?”