Sure looks like Trump, the great deal maker, was played by Kim Jong Un. A meaningless "we'll keep talking" in exchange for a lot of prestige, and, now, it seems, a commitment to walk back military exercises.
Look, I'm a believer in unilateral tension reduction. I've been saying for years (only half in jest) that we should just FedEx a signed peace treaty to Pyongyang, declaring the Korean War over and announcing that we have no intention of attacking or undermining the North Korean state, deplorable as it may be. It's clear that their main interest is survival of their regime, which is not really our issue to resolve. If the Korean people want to be rid of the Kim dynasty, they will have to do the long, hard, nonviolent resistance work that it will take, because there is no external military solution. Every thinking person knows that.
But just handing Kim a big diplomatic victory in exchange for nothing is not helping, either. I give Trump pretty much no credit... he infused the crisis at least as much in the first year of his administration as he has now defused it, and where are we? Acceptance of a nuclear DPRK. We probably didn't really have much choice, but I do not see this as any kind of achievement.
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