In an excellent primer on the current state of affairs between North Korea and the United States, CNA experts Ken Gause, Sarah Vogler and Christopher Steinitz discuss the June 12 summit and how the regime's objectives changed in the years and months leading up to it. They believe that Kim Jong Un's 2018 New Year’s Day speech indicated a shift from a brinkmanship to an engagement posture, as well as a shift in focus from the nuclear program to economic progress. They explain how Kim’s strategic calculus differs from his father's, what is at stake for the regime and its legitimacy, and North Korea's uneasy relationships with South Korea, China, and the United States.
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