" ...For Kim, the threat posed by North Korean nuclear weapons is essential to his survival on the world stage, a deterrent to those who might actively entertain plans to instigate regime change. Now, after talks with both the South Koreans and the Chinese, Kim is trying to determine what leverage he may have in negotiations with the United States.
Kim “is starting a new game where he could make concessions on denuclearization,” Yang Xiyu, a leading Chinese expert on North Korea, said to the New York Times. “At most, he will cut the grass, but he will not pull out the roots.”
Even if Kim indicates a willingness to denuclearize, “he’ll likely follow that up with a price that the United States should not be willing to pay,” wrote Ankit Panda, an expert on Asia-Pacific security issues. That could include a drawdown of American forces in South Korea or even a broader withdrawal from northeast Asia. This would be welcomed in Beijing and Moscow, but rejected by most policymakers in Washington.
“It’s worth remembering that Pyongyang’s interpretation of a 'denuclearized Korean Peninsula' is not one where its arsenal has been 'completely, verifiably, and irreversibly' dismantled as Washington would like,” Panda noted, "but one where it gives up its weapons in exchange for the United States withdrawing its nuclear shield from the Peninsula and leaving altogether." ... "
