US Has No Grand Bargain Prepared for North Korea Talks

Blinken expects carefully calibrated diplomacy

Speaking Sunday on upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says the US doesn’t expect any major deals with North Korea and has not prepared for a “grand bargain” at the upcoming talks.

Blinken says North Korea is a “hard problem” that’s going to require a lot of carefully-calibrated diplomacy. He urges clear steps from North Korea on the matter to move forward.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a grand bargain where this gets resolved in one fell swoop,” Blinken added. It’s not clear how the US intends to approach North Korea talks, beyond not looking for a big deal.

The Trump Administration went for a big deal, but most progress was lost when the US bragged about giving up nothing in return, and stuck to that for years on end. Blinken seems to be pointing to other US administrations’ strategies to follow, not expecting as much while still giving up nothing in return.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.