How North Korea will seek to play the next U.S. president

 

 How North Korea will seek to play the next U.S. president

Ahead of any U.S. presidential transition, North Korea always starts laying the groundwork for how it will approach the next leader. Pyongyang's approaches are neither novel nor revolutionary, but they are stubbornly effective.
 
Based on past behavior, Anthony W. Holmes lays out Kim Jong Un's playbook: First, North Korea will state semiofficially that it is uninterested in negotiations with the U.S. government; second, North Korea will simultaneously hint that it is open to negotiations if the U.S. and its allies make shows of good faith; third, North Korea will conduct some kind of public and unmissable event such as a nuclear test or demonstration of a new capability.
 
Fundamentally, North Korea is negotiating to buy time in order to develop sufficiently advanced, credible, and reliable weapons systems so that it can achieve its goal of ending U.S. security guarantees on the Korean Peninsula.