Talks rest on South Korea’s Moon Jae-in persuading the US and North Korea to join a “declaration-for-declaration” deal.

Moon Jae-in is attempting to mediate between Washington and Pyongyang, while his personal approval plummets at home.

Pyongyang wil reportedly allow international inspectors to interview North Korean officials about missile tests.

While there is fresh impetus to resolve the US–North Korean conflict, a treaty remains as bewildering as ever.

Dealing with North Korea has never been easy, but the US and South Korea have differing priorities in the negotiations.

Donald Trump has leverage. Pyongyang wants something he has to help with the parlous state of the North Korean economy.

Hopes are high of returning home the long-lost war dead, but commemoration and remembrance are emotionally charged.

Satellite images show North Korea is indeed dismantling its rocket engine test site as was pledged in Singapore.

<p>Pyongyang, always keen observers, are seeking to bypass the US bureaucrats and appeal directly to Donald Trump.</p>

Kim Jong-un’s summit with Donald Trump captured attention, but on the Korean Peninsula, many convoluted ploys are afoot.

Despite the much-trumpeted summit, Kim Jong-un does not seem to be honouring his end of the deal.

Even with North Korean denuclearisation, the two Koreas will remain divided.

Donald Trump has recessed himself and Moon Jae-in looks to have the political support for a big-bang approach to a final status deal with North Korea – doubtful as the outcome might be.

Overcoming the politics of victimhood is one way Japan’s leader could involve himself again in regional denuclearisation talks.

<p>Pyongyang has pledged to dismantle a rocket engine test stand, which is less of a concession than it might seem.</p>

China’s political elite know that this is only the beginning, but have several reasons to be pleased.

With the relationship shifting towards conciliation, human rights language has largely disappeared from Trump’s vocabulary.

The real agenda in US–North Korea talks may be economic and political, rather than about arms.

The South Korean President’s shuttle diplomacy may fracture his relationship with the US.

The jogging bodyguards alongside Kim Jong-un’s limousine are more than a charade.

<p>Donald Trump deserves credit for creating a moment that could – maybe – escape the madness of destruction.</p>

Donald Trump has a unique chance to turn negotiations to his advantage and that of about 2000 survivors of the A-bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki who wound up in North Korea.

How The Interpreter has followed a remarkable few months of on-again off-again diplomacy.

South Korean, Japanese, and Western elites have painted themselves into a corner on complete, verifiable, irreversible nuclear disarmament.

The US and North Korea are far apart, but look beneath the surface and there is a chance for agreement.

US credibility has taken a significant hit, with broader impacts for Washington’s relationships in Northeast Asia.

Declarations of reform mean decentralisation, and may not be sincere.

<p>New US National Security Adviser John Bolton might draw on past experience when negotiating with Kim Jong-un.</p>

Many of the moral debates about North Korea are settled, even if the diplomatic questions are not.

<p>Pyongyang is attempting to make a virtue out of necessity.</p>

Getting more out of North Korea may be a good reason behind Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran deal.

Singapore, Panmanjom, Ulaanbataar, or anywhere else, deciding where the leaders meet will broadcast an important signal.

The subtle messages of the historic meeting go well beyond the words on paper.

Plenty of attention has been paid to the perils of the likely US–North Korea summit, but little has been said about the risks Trump would have faced had he declined Pyongyang’s offer.

But “satellite” launches could disguise more missile tests.

<p>“Denuclearisation” is fraught with ambiguity and means very different things to each&nbsp;side.</p>

<p>The US and South Korea must be wary about&nbsp;Pyongyang dangling the strings.</p>

Australia has put its trust in Donald Trump and his transactional, “deal-making” style of diplomacy.

Moon Jae-in surely sees himself as Nixon going to China, rather than Chamberlain going to Munich.

Trump ought to offer Kim a grand bargain: give up your ICBM program, and we will withdraw our troops from South Korea.

<p>Events are moving fast now and the Beijing trip means a Trump–Kim summit is increasingly likely.</p>

Trump’s propensity to walk away from promises will hang over the talks with Kim Jong-un.

<p>It seems, to borrow the military phrase, a sudden escalation in peaceful possibilities.</p>

Olympic peace gestures aside, scientists in Pyongyang need time to collect and analyse data from last year’s missile tests.

North Korea policy is seen by some Japanese media as a debate with a South Korean stooge.

While cheerleaders dance in PyeongChang, officials in Pyongyang are pushing ahead with a nuclear and ballistic missile program.

China has cracked down on cross-border trade to win extra leverage over its neighbour.

The protracted public debate over striking North Korea is a marker of Donald Trump shifting of the terms of the debate.

Last year saw a surge in testing and deployment of both ballistic and cruise missile technology throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Did China browbeat Australia to downgrade official participation in a conference on North Korea?