“For perhaps the first time in living memory,” writes Nick Eberstadt in a recent op-ed for The New York Times, “Team Kim is being outmaneuvered by the Americans in their zero-sum contest.” What has gone wrong with North Korean negotiations in the past, and why might that now be changing? Dr. Eberstadt joined us to discuss.

We also cover the ongoing tensions between South Korea and Japan, the toll the US sanctions are taking on the North Korean economy, and whether the Kim family really believes the Marxist-Leninist “Hegelian mumbo jumbo” their regime spouts.

Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at AEI, where he researches and writes extensively on demographics and economic development generally, and more specifically on international security in the Korean peninsula and Asia. Dr. Eberstadt is also a senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research.

You can subscribe to “Banter” on iTunes, Stitcher, or the podcast player of your choice, and archived episodes can be found at www.aei.org/feature/banter. This is Banter episode #377.

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