The pointlessness of North Korea policy

For the next three years, briefs on North Korea policy will be a testament to the fecklessness of the field and the glaring chasm between scholars and diplomacy.

At the moment, it’s impossible to escape. The parade of think tank briefs, university reports, blog posts, and earnest social media threads is already in full swing. After all, the moment seems irresistible — a relatively new U.S. president and a freshly minted South Korean one.

What better time to offer weighty advice on “how the president should handle North Korea”.

Never mind that the entire exercise is a ritual farce. Trump doesn’t read, let alone listen, and Lee Jae-myung will spend the next few years largely reacting to Washington’s mood swings, not shaping grand strategy. You may have awesome ideas, but they’re irrelevant!

In three years, your advice may be more relevant. Until then, it’s dunny paper. Just a testament to the fecklessness of the field and the glaring chasm between scholarly ideas and diplomatic practice (dunny = toilet for those not from Australia).

The delusion starts in the Washington Beltway.