The policy challenges that North Korea presents are severe and have vexed several U.S. administrations.  The core of the difficulty is that North Korea sees its nuclear weapons as a necessary deterrent while the rest of the world sees them as a danger and the main problem that needs to be resolved.  Any thought of denuclearization necessarily entails an array of big issues including security relationships in East Asia and even reunification of Korea.  Proper consideration of these issues requires all the help and input from the bureaucracy and from a policy process that any White House could possibly get.

As the administration scrambles to respond to Trump’s latest impulsive act, there is still time, before any summit meeting occurs, to develop and use a decent policy process.  But the decision already made to shoot engagement with North Korea directly to the presidential level both limits the possibilities and amplifies the hazards.  As Victor Cha, an expert on Korea who reportedly was in line to become U.S. ambassador in Seoul before he pointed out the unwisdom of a “bloody nose” military strike on the North, observes, the “dramatic act of diplomacy by these two unusual leaders, who love flair and drama, may also take us closer to war. Failed negotiations at the summit level leave all parties with no other recourse for diplomacy.”

Donald Trump is a worst case president who demonstrates vividly why any president should have his or her decisions supported by a full and orderly policy process.  The problem of North Korea may be, if not the worst case, a very tough issue that embodies a similar lesson.

Image: South Korea's National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, Cho Yoon-je, the South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon, (L), make an announcement about North Korea and the Trump administration outside of the West Wing at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis ​