Trump and Kim Jong-un Face Off Under Cloud of Nuclear Weapons

FEATURING TIM SHORROCK – North Korea’s testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday set off yet another flurry of speculation about ratcheting tensions with the US. Kim Jong-un’s regime described the missile as being capable of hitting Alaska. While the US has had various strategies in place to combat nuclear and conventional threats from North Korea, under President Donald Trump, there is incoherence.

Initially Mr. Trump pushed China to exert its limited control over North Korea. Now, he is intent on Chinese sanctions instead.

Any US strike against North Korea will likely result in massive retaliation against neighboring US ally, South Korea and other regional nations.

Should the current situation be viewed through the lens of two unstable leaders of well-armed nations dangerously facing off against one another?

Tim Shorrock, Washington-based journalist who spent part of his youth in South Korea and has been writing about North and South Korea since the late 1970s. He just returned from a two month stay in Gwangju, South Korea, where during the Korean president campaign he interviewed South Korea’s President Moon Jae-In. He writes about US-Korea relations for The Nation and the Korea Center for Investigative Reporting.