DPRK detente will not last if US insists on all take, no give: China Daily editorial

Frustrated there has been no tangible progress on denuclearization, the Donald Trump administration has just reached a fresh consensus with Japan and the Republic of Korea on sustaining the pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, until the latter gives up nuclear weapons.

Even amid the ostensible detente following the June 12 Singapore meeting between Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, there was no mention of discontinuing what Trump described as a "maximum pressure" tactic. But what US State Secretary Mike Pompeo reiterated in his latest phone conversations with his Japanese and ROK counterparts is a clear indication of the White House's belated recognition that denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula is not as simple as it once believed.

Trump entered into personal engagement with his counterpart in Pyongyang assuming his predecessors were all inferior; he, on the other hand, had a magic wand. It is good that the US president has finally come to terms with the reality, and he has conceded that the matter is complicated, something that will be more conducive to him making informed decisions about how the denuclearization process is to be approached.

By now Trump should be aware denuclearization will not happen overnight, at least not the way he anticipated. His predecessors were not as "foolish" as he portrayed them to be. Indeed, the likelihood is high that he may find himself returning to the same path they followed and end up in a similar position.

Because after all, like all his predecessors found out, nuclear weapons are the sole and ultimate bargaining chip Pyongyang has, meaning it will not forsake them without getting what it wants. In return for abandoning its nuclear arsenal, Pyongyang seeks a cast iron security guarantee, economic assistance and probably a lot more. And with that in mind, Pyongyang naturally expects the process to be one of give-and-take.

After nullifying a nuclear test ground, some missile launchers and returning the remains of wartime US service people, Pyongyang is now awaiting something concrete in return.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, if Pyongyang condemns the latest US-Japan-ROK agreement as proof of the insincerity in which the US is conducting the denuclearization negotiations.