By Troy Stangarone If negotiating a nuclear deal with North Korea was already a fraught proposition, President Donald Trump’s decision to no longer certify the Iran nuclear deal despite Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) just made that prospect all the more difficult. For decades one of the main obstacles to…
October 17, 2017
By Troy Stangarone After North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, there were expectations that the United Nations would pass a new round of sanctions that would potentially be debilitating for North Korea. Early discussions included bans on exports of oil to North Korea and cutting off North Korea’s use of overseas laborers to earn hard currency.…
September 11, 2017
By Thomas Lee With almost three months remaining before the 7th Korean Worker’s Party Plenum is scheduled to convene in May, South Korean intelligence sources state that North Korea appears to preparing for its fifth nuclear test. Although few if any signs of test preparations have been detected by satellite imagery, the recent experience with…
March 3, 2016
By Troy Stangarone What should drive a summit meeting between the leaders of a divided nation such as Korea? The chance to heal an historical divide? The need to ease tensions and open dialogue between the two sides? The ability to move concrete policy goals forward in an effort to build a joint future? These…