Center for East Asia Policy Studies
Jung H. Pak
SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies
Jonathan Stromseth
Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asian Studies
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center
Ryan Hass
David M. Rubenstein Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center
North Korea will be watching very carefully how the Trump administration handles itself in the Middle East. It will look at how determined Washington is in using its arsenal [against Syria].
The specific language North Korea is using to describe denuclearization is an old phrase, and anybody who has dealt with Pyongyang understands what it means. Kim [Jong Un] has no intention of giving up the nuclear weapons his regime has struggled and sacrificed so much to build. Kim Jong Un has conducted more nuclear tests than his father and is more determined than his father or his grandfather to make nuclear weapons a pillar of the regime's survival strategy.
