The announcement that North Korea cancelled a bi-lateral meeting with South Korea in protest of current joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises demonstrates that dictator Kim Jong-Un correctly believes he's in the driver's seat. Buffoon and narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump had offered himself on a silver platter to Kim, jumping at the chance to meet with him, quickly discarding the "fire and fury" bluster for praise and compliments. With that, Kim saw in his American counterpart a desperate ignoramus eager to pad his empty bag of foreign affairs accomplishments, giving him leverage over Rump.
With the cancellation, Kim has put a wedge between South Korea and the U.S. over the military exercises, a strategy that the North should be expected to continue in advance of their almost certain negotiating position that the U.S. withdraw its forces from South Korea. In addition, possibly seeing what happened to Gaddafi and is happening with Iran, Kim appears to be signaling that "denuclearization" is not a goal of theirs, as a North Korean Foreign Ministry official indicated:
"'If [the Trump administration] only pushes us into a corner and forces us to give up our nuclear weapons unilaterally, then we will no longer take interest in such a talk and would have to reconsider,' Kim Kye Gwan said."So, to keep score, Kim has his nuclear weapons, his medium and long range ballistic missiles, and his elevation as an equal to the U.S. President. He's shutting a useless test site, but preserving the equipment and technology for continued weapons production. He has South Korean President Moon staking his future on a positive outcome for their negotiations, and has China's apparent backing. The only negative, and it's significant, are the sanctions, which Kim might finesse if he can demonstrate that Rump is acting in bad faith and is interested ultimately in regime change.
Rump, meanwhile, is on the outside looking in, not a master of his destiny as far as Korea is concerned, having conceded much with little but three hostages in return. Only a schmuck would call that a deal.
BONUS: Yglesias has a great piece on why Rump's bumbling "diplomacy" shouldn't be taken seriously.
BONUS II: Wonkette has a more humorous, but accurate, take as well.
