While the recent Korean Summit marks the beginning of the new era, to achieve lasting peace will require intense diplomatic efforts.

Kim will drive the hardest bargain possible and be willing to make only small concessions like maintaining some type of a freeze on future tests of missiles and nuclear weapons.

Removing the Kim regime’s fears about regime change and reducing the insecurity caused by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests to the US and its allies are the essentials that must be addressed in a UN-led multinational dialogue to forge a negotiated settlement.

A rational decision maker in the White House does not have all options on the table and cannot start a war without South Korea’s consent. Diplomacy is the only option and this is as obvious as obvious can be.

What to make of the combination of Trump’s missile strikes in Syria, changes of mind about China and Russia, warnings to North Korea, signals about scaling up military presence in Afghanistan, and outreach to Turkey?

There will be little legitimacy for a pre-emptive US strike on North Korea unless Pyongyang launches a pre-meditated strike on any nation.

North Korea has blatantly breached the chemical weapons ‘red line’ in the killing of the half-brother of Kim Jong-un in Kuala Lumpur on February 13.

North Korea may not have reached the level of expertise to develop an ICBM indigenously. But, in terms of declaration of intent, it has achieved all that it wants.