He was saying North Korea would have to carry out complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization before the Trump administration lifted its “maximum pressure” campaign. In a statement last week, North Korea rejected the “so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment, ‘complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization,’ ‘total decommissioning of nuclear weapons, missiles and biochemical weapons’ etc. With its bellicose response, North Korea exposed the fact that it has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons. This was further underscored by the public-relations stunt North Korea pulled this week when it unilaterally “destroyed” its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. “This would get the attention of both Beijing and Pyongyang.”Trump should make clear to both North Korea and China, absent an agreement, that sanctions will get tighter and military action is possible.

Source: Washington Post May 25, 2018 01:18 UTC