Northeast Asia

I don’t want to say [we should have] low expectations [for North Koera-South Korea talks], but we should have small-step expectations. We need to encourage both North Korea and South Korea to take baby steps. They’re not going to go for nuclear issues first. They’re going to go for the traditional issues they have worked on. I doubt that President Moon will be on a highway course to change the dynamics with North Korea.

The fact that North Korea wants to talk to South Korea makes me cautiously optimistic, but I don’t have high expectations. We need to be careful about not blowing this out of proportion.

North Korea wants many things including economic access, so the price tag to negotiate with North Korea on anything is much higher than it ever was because of its nuclear capability now. People should not assume that because these overtures have been made that it’s going to be follow the yellow brick road, a little bit of fun and that’s that. It’s going to come with a high cost.

[Are the North Koreans prepared to suspend nuclear missile tests to enter talks with South Korea?] Because if they don’t, I don’t see any realistic possibility of any kind of discussion, and certainly not a negotiation with the North.

[The 1960s and 70s was a] time when the U.S. dollar was almighty. It was very fast and loose … lots of irresponsible behavior by men and women [leading to] hundreds of thousands of stateless children. The family members of the women with these children often rejected both the women and the children.

I'm not optimistic about the potential for U.S.-North Korea dialogue happening anytime soon. I have not seen anything from Pyongyang to suggest that the Kim regime is interested in addressing these issues even if dialogue began, and it would be politically difficult for Washington to back down from its demand for credible, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization given this current situation,