There was no shortage of major foreign policy crises to choose from in 2017, but the rapid escalation of tensions with North Korea — and the threat of nuclear war behind them — stood out from the rest. It's also one into which President Trump, an iconoclastic leader who disdains diplomacy and styles himself both a businessman and a brawler, has thrown himself with abandon.
But as Trump's first year in office draws to a close, the president is starting to look like a bystander in the situation on the Korean Peninsula. He warned for months that negotiations wouldn't work, preferring to threaten "fire and fury" for Pyongyang and emphasizing his ability to "totally destroy" North Korea. Then on Wednesday, Trump reversed course and issued an early morning tweet that simultaneously defended his tough rhetoric while offering support for potential talks between North Korea and South Korea.The hints of a turning point in the crisis were confirmed later in the day. In the afternoon, the United States and South Korea announced that theywould postpone joint military exercises until after next month's Winter Olympics, which will be held in the South Korean region of PyeongChang. The United States had long balked at moving these exercises, a frequent demand of the North. Then, in the evening, came news from Seoul that North Korea has officially agreed to hold "high-level" talks next week.
All of these events suggest that decision-making is in the hands of Pyongyang and Seoul rather than Washington. The first public signal that talks were back on the table had come from Kim Jong Un. During his annual New Year's address, Kim said he hoped the PyeongChang Games would be a success, adding that he would look into sending a delegation.
The message was received warmly by many South Koreans, who hope that the presence of North Korean athletes and officials at the games would deter provocations from Pyongyang and provide space for wider talks. South Korean President Moon Jae-in quickly seized upon the idea. Moon's unification minister, Cho Myong-gyon, proposed that the two Koreas meet next week at the shared border village of Panmunjom, a move that apparently prompted North Korea to reopen a "hotline" that the two countries use to talk across the border.
Trump's reaction, however, was markedly different. Instead of noting Kim's Olympic overture, Trump focused on a part of the speech in which the North Korean leader said that he "always has the nuclear launch button on his office desk." In a now-infamous tweet, the president responded that his own nuclear button was "much bigger & more powerful" — a startlingly undiplomatic message even by the standards of Trump's brusque style.
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