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Carlin and Lewis call for a reconsideration of US policy towards North Korea. They have visited North Korea several times, and say that Americans are as isolated from the North Koreans as the North Koreans are from the rest of the world. America once saw China and Vietnam as countries with which America found it impossible to engage, today it is N. Korea, say Carlin and Lewis. They also point out that with China's support on a long term basis, US hopes that North Korea will simply collapse is a weak reed to base US policy on.

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John Lyons of the WSJ writes in this report from Seoul, South Korea, that president Moon may have inadvertently contributed to the sense of the futility of talking to South Korea about missile defense when he opposed the installation of the Thaad, Terminal high altitude missile system, in his election campaign. This led to the U.S. and the South Korean government of president Ms. Park moving ahead with the system before Moon was elected. Moon is a human rights lawyer who favored improved relations with North Korea. Domestic South Korean politics were decided by younger voters alienated by the existing business structure, leading to the conviction of president Park and later the head of Samsung on corruption charges, and the election of Mr. Moon. In foreign affairs the picture is quite different as Moon is seen in South Korea as not being consulted by the U.S. as it frames policy for the region. South Koreans call this "Korea passing." As U.S. and Japan are directly affected by North Korean missile tests, the most recent on August 29th passing over Japan, U.S. president Trump consults with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. People in Japan are cited in the NYT as saying recently, that they knew they had to worry about earthquakes, but had not expected to have to worry about missiles. A recent report in NYT showed that most people in Seoul have not prepared seriously to use underground shelters because they do not believe a war could take place with Seoul only 35 miles from the North Korea border. The U.S. policy is now focused on working with China, and coordinating its policy with Japan. A U.S. anti ballistic missile test was conducted from the ship USS John Paul Jones on August 29th. Moon has changed his position and now supports Thaad missile defense. South Koreans are apparently resigned to the prospect of "Korea passing." ...

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U.S. president Trump delivers a forceful speech at the UN General Assembly. He says the U.S. would take strong action against North Korea, and called both Iran and North Korea "rogue nations." President Bush first used the language of "rogue nations" for North Korea and Iran in a speech at West Point Military Academy in June 2002. In that speech Bush also said he reserved the right for pre-emptive action. This was followed by the invasion of Iraq. Trump also said the U.S. was "prepared to take further action" on Venezuela. French president Macron offered his own view, that the door for dialogue was open with North Korea. Prime minister Netanyahu of Israel affirmed Trump's statements on Iran calling Iran's access to nuclear weapons dangerous.  Fifteen years after Bush's speech the situation has not changed. In some ways it has deteriorated with the war in Syria, and continuing war in Iraq, the refugee crisis, and the ballistic missile testing by North Korea. ...

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In a tactical move the Trump administration links a trade deal with South Korea with progress on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and bringing North Korea to talks on denuclearization. After some offers by the North to open this issue in talks the progress is stalled. The move is an effort to bring more pressure on both Koreas on this issue.

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U.S. president Trump meets with president Moon of South Korea in June 2017 at the White House. South Korea's new leader president Moon tells congressional leaders that he will not reverse the deployment of the THADD missile defense system aimed at blocking a threat from North Korean missiles. President Trump says the renegotiation of the trade treaty with South Korea is taking place, with discussions on South Korean steel exports "dumped" in the U.S. and barriers in the auto exports from the U.S. The U.S. trade deficit with South Korea jumped from $13 billion in 2011 to $27 billion in 2016, leading to charges of unfair trade. 

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DJT was asked if China's celebration of Victory Day with Russia recently in Tianjin had any message for the US. He said he did not see it that way, that US has good relations with China. In this context the Smithsonian Museum exhibit on military history of the US shows a real aspect of the World War II in loss of life- Russia 17 million dead, China 11 million dead, Germany 10 million dead, Poland 5 million dead, Japan 2.5 million dead, US 1 million dead, UK 800,000 dead. Russian and Chinese losses of 28 million dead are 15 times the losses of US and UK combined of 1.8 million dead. With the scale of losses of such magnitude Victory Day celebrations in Tianjin can be seen in the context of this shared history and major losses overcome as much of the world knows with US help. A sobering view is that the colonial powers Imperial Japanese Army, French and British policies caused famines in World War II leading to 6-7 million deaths in India, Indonesia and Vietnam which is 4 times the 1.7 million US and UK deaths. Views of China in the Context of the Ukraine War and Russia are very different in US than in France and Europe and are widening in differences in 2025. In the US as in this report in the WSJ China is seen as a trade partner and competitor with certain issues, many of China's university leaders and experts question the prospect of a long term alliance with Russia, and for DJT Russia is a nuclear power with which US seeks good relations and a political settlement of the Ukraine War. In France as shown in the article in Le Monde adjacent to this the European attitudes towards Russia throughout European history since 1700 of regional rivalry between France and Russia, Germany and Russia since 1900, Britain and Russia since 1700. FDR led the alliance with Russia against the Nazis and Imperial Japanese in the 1930's and 1940's. Herbert Hoover led the effort to bring relief supplies and aid to Russian in the period of the Civil War after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. With China America kept the government in China functioning as it retreated from the invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army in the 1930's and 1940's and the only hope with Gen. Joe Stilwell in China alongside Chinese leaders. ...

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Most experts are critical of president Trump's use of language "fire and fury" to North Korea for its missile tests and threats to the U.S.  The closest one gets is the language used by Harry Truman during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs.  Mr. Feaver, a national security expert and Senator Cardin say Mr. Trump is using the same language that the north Korean leaders is using and this simply raises the tensions. Feaver was adviser to President George W. Bush on the National Security staff. He says Bush's statement "bring 'em on" to Baath loyalists and militants targeting U.S. troops was a mistake, as well as some other Bush statements in the war against Saddam Hussein who Bush said he wanted "dead or alive."  Victor Cha, a former National Security Council official under president Clinton, says Bill Clinton used language that acted as deterrance to the the North Korean government when he said at the demilitarized zone in Korea, any attack would be "the end of their country." Cha sees Trump's language as a form of deterrence to avoid any miscalculation. Feaver says the language is dangerous, and the only way he can see it being thought out is that 30 years of diplomatic effort have left us with little improvement with North Korea, and the idea that lets try using the same language as the other side. Yet even here he sees it as escalating the rhetoric when nuclear missiles are involved. ...

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This inside account of the events leading to the cancellation of the meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea shows how quickly the idea of a meeting between the two leaders unraveled following Trump's statements about the Libyan example being followed by North Korea. Soon after the suggestion for a Trump meeting was made by Kim Jong Un to South Korean officials Mr Trump picked up and endorsed the idea. North Korea made a public announcement critical of Mr. Trump  and National Security Adviser John Bolton took this up with Mr. Trump at 10 pm on May 23, 2018.  This report says Mr. Trump fearing that Kim Jong Un was looking for a way to back out of the talks acted first- possibly sensing that Mr. Trump could be made to look weak and small if the situation continued to develop and the U.S. is seen as a desperate suitor. The meeting had been set for June 12 in Singapore.  In the end the South Koreans and the Japanese were the last to learn about the cancellation and were taken by surprise by Trump's decision. ...

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Maria Bartiromo talks with President Medvedev of Russia. She asks him about the North Korean's nuclear missiles testing. Medvedev says "what has happened raises great alarm and concern." He says North Korea is close to Japan and S. Korea but is also close to Russia. He has had quite anumber of telephone talks with the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of S. Korea on this subject. He says the world needs to think about what measures can be taken to deter these programs. He is concerned about unemployment. 2.2 million are registered as unemployed but the number is much much higher. Russia he says is a hostage to the structure of the economy, and sees a danger in the overdependence on export of raw materials. He sees the crisis as an opportunity to change the "outdated and obsolete structure of Russia's economy." His idea is to use the extra revenues to support social programs and to radically change the structure of the economy.

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President Trump uses particularly blunt language as he says the U.S. will take strong action against North Korea. In an address to the UN General Assembly he says the only option is "denuclearization" for North Korea. Trump called the nuclear deal with Iran an "embarrassment to the United States." In this speech and in other speeches he has called it the worst one-sided transaction that the U.S. has negotiated. Secretary of State Tillerson separately has called for its modification.

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This New York Times Editorial Board says the Indian border with Pakistan is a more dangerous place for escalation into nuclear conflict than North Korea. The lull and the calm after the initial hostilities is deceiving says NYT. It says the Trump administration needs to take an active role to reduce tensions and China needs to take firm action in opposing terrorist activities conducted from Pakistan into India. 

It also points out that even though this is seen as not possible there is still the need for India, Pakistan and Kashmir to talk about solutions that could work instead of just giving up and continuing as before. Without mentioning it NYT appears to be saying that other intractable conflicts have been resolved including in the Balkans (religious conflict), in Ireland (religious conflict), with the right kind of effort and determination, and men of goodwill on all sides.

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South Korean president president Yoon is shown on the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt during the Freedom Edge military exercises of South Korea, US and Japan near the Korean peninsula in June 2024.