Kim Jong Un’s secretive train journey from North Korea to Vietnam ultimately represents a win for China. Traversing the entire country, Kim had only to look out the window to realize that China is a viable alternative to the US when it comes to brokering political survival.

The U.S. would look at ramping up sanctions if Pyongyang did not scrap its nuclear weapon program, says Trump's national security adviser.

Although the two sides left the Hanoi Summit emptyhanded, it nonetheless set a positive tone for a possible future deal — especially if both sides give their diplomats a chance to conduct working-level negotiations, rather than expecting meetings between top leaders to resolve a host of complex issues.

It seems that North Korea and the United States both harbor misjudgments about the other’s views on denuclearization, and neither has fully prepared for the responsibilities that come with denuclearizing. All the while, the window of time for fruitful negotiations in the future is narrowing.

The Trump-Kim negotiations were cut short last week before a breakthrough agreement could be made. The United States and North Korea are not the only party with an interest in the proceedings— South Korea, China, and Russia also have stakes in peace on the Korean Peninsula.

A comparison of the U.S.’s strategic positioning before the Singapore summit and today.

The US must give the DPRK more leeway if denuclearization is to be achieved.

A denuclearized North Korea? Don’t hold your breath.

The specter of a U.S.-China trade war should not distract us from paying critical attention to what Beijing might have gained from the recent summit in Singapore on North Korea’s denuclearization. In fact, China is positioning itself to reap diplomatic dividends from what promises to be a long road to denuclearize North Korea.

For the agreement to succeed, the US and its allies must build mutual trust with Kim Jong-un and not dwell on their differences.