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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during their historic summit at the Capella Singapore hotel on Sentosa Island on Tuesday.
Handout/Getty Images

Why North Korea's priority isn't its underdeveloped economy

Jun 12, 2018
North Korea's relationship with the U.S. is not about "aid or even investment," according to Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump sign documents as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R) and Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, look on at a signing ceremony during their historic U.S.-North Korea summit.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The diplomatic approach to North Korea is a long game

Oct 9, 2017
Felicia Schwartz of the Wall Street Journal reports on how the State Department has been quietly pressuring Pyongyang. But don't expect results any time soon.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson listens during a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York City about nuclear non-proliferation in September.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Looking at North Korea across a "gulf of misperception"

Sep 14, 2017
Things aren’t getting better between North Korea and the rest of the world. The United Nations imposed another round of sanctions this week. In response, North Korea said it would “sink” Japan using nuclear weapons and reduce the United States to “ashes and darkness.” Evan Osnos is a staff writer at the New Yorker and […]

The U.S. faces a complicated landscape on the Korean peninsula

Apr 17, 2017
Things are heating up on the Korean peninsula, you may have heard. A senior official told the BBC that North Korea will test missiles weekly. South Korea has doubled down on a missile defense system that China finds threatening. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has said all options are on the table to contain North […]

North Korea: A fragile economy after Kim Jong-Il

Dec 19, 2011
Death of dictator creates a new region of uncertainty. What it means for North Korea's economy, the U.S. and neighboring countries as the nation's military decides whether to accept Kim Jong-Il's son as leader.