Articles by: "Ron Huisken"
Addressing Kim Jong-un’s hunger for security

In an article about the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February, I shared the sentiment that Trump needed to allow his administration to prepare more …

Round 2: North Korea and China versus the USA

North Korea set out on its quest to develop a nuclear-weapons capability (reliable nuclear explosive devices and the means to deliver them over medium and long distances) in the mid-1980s. Progress was slow and uneven. …

Korea: It’s the present versus the past

Once again we’re embarked on an endeavour to defuse the Korean peninsula as the perennial flashpoint in Asia. We’ve been here before—notably during the 2003–05 six-party talks—so we know most of the important bits of …

What is Kim up to?

The surging optimism about the imminent end of the Korean peninsula’s long reign as a global flashpoint is overwhelming the legions of realists and pessimists around the region. The new Kim Jong‑un is charming and …

Might Kim actually want to cut a deal?

For nearly 70 years, nothing has interrupted North Korea’s fierce and often savage belligerence towards the South and its superpower ally, the United States. Now President Donald Trump has spontaneously accepted an invitation to meet …

DPRK: ready to talk, but who’s listening?

On 29 November, after a 10-week hiatus, North Korea conducted another missile test. It was a new vehicle, the biggest yet seen, and it performed flawlessly, demonstrating that it could probably deliver a warhead to …

North Korea: where to now?

A growing list of observers contend that North Korea is now out of reach, that its nuclear program is irreversible and that the smart option is to accept this fact and start concentrating on deterrence …

The DPRK: what’s new?

The latest crisis on the Korean peninsula is distinctive for a number of reasons. First, it involves a bunch of new or newish leaders in Kim Jung-un, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Moon Jae-in. Second, …