Media Appearance: "Democrats Need More Than Hot Air on North Korea" on Foreign Policy

Here is my latest on Foreign Policy. It's a topic near and dear to my heart, and a very important point for the historical moment in which we find ourselves. The liberal blindness to the North Korea issue--the Number One Foreign Policy Issue of our time--is so proud that, even when liberals self-criticize about their lack of a foreign policy agenda, they forget to mention North Korea. This must not continue.

A short sample of the three liberal foreign policy principles I offer as to North Korea:

Finally, as the party of diplomacy, Democrats should support efforts to open dialogue with North Korea. There is legitimate discomfort that Trump’s blustery style of negotiation may cause more harm than good. This discomfort often leads liberals to criticize Trump as a friend of dictators as Sanders did, or ridicule him as being played by Kim, as Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley did this summer while dismissing the progress in the U.S.-North Korea talks. But liberals must resist the urge. While skilled diplomacy would be preferable to Trump’s ramblings, his bumbling approach is the only kind available at this moment, and it is still better than a nuclear war.

As an antidote to Trump’s gracelessness, the Democrats can put their support behind South Korea’s Moon Jae-in, who has been a crucial mediator between United States and North Korea throughout the past year. When Trump impetuously canceled the U.S.-North Korea summit in May, Moon quickly crossed the DMZ to hold a surprise second summit meeting with Kim, which eventually pushed Trump to revive his summit with Kim in the following month in Singapore. The denuclearization negotiations between North Korea and the United States stalled after the Singapore meeting, but in the third recent inter-Korean summit last month, Moon once again drew out enough commitment from Kim for the U.S.-North Korea dialogue to continue. Time and again, Moon has been the stabilizing presence in these negotiations; U.S. liberals must recognize an ally in South Korea’s liberal president and give him all the support available.

Democrats Need More Than Hot Air on North Korea [Foreign Policy]

If you are a liberal who cares about foreign policy even a little bit, I respectfully ask you take a look at this article and continue to think about this issue.