![North Korean soldier in conference room at North/South Korean border. / [Image by Pontamax via Pixabay, CC BY 0]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/16/660x290/b_502x220x82/north-korean-soldier-in-conference-room-at-northsouth-korean-border-image-by-pontamax-via-pixabay-cc-by-0_1520151.jpg "North Korean soldier in conference room at North/South Korean border. / [Image by Pontamax via Pixabay, CC BY 0]")
As North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un changed his mind last week about launching missiles toward Guam, he reportedly said that he wanted to see what the "foolish Yankees" would do next. In the same way, the entire world is also uncertain. After seeming to hit the point of extremes, it's difficult to know what the next steps are going to look like.
DPRK has seen what happens to leaders who give up nuclear weapons
But the limits of diplomacy were likely already reached when Rex Tillerson gave North Korea an ultimatum to disarm in order to hold talks.
This option is not likely as Kim Jong-un would risk giving up his power if he were to give up his nuclear weapons. Foreign policy analysts have already suggested that the North Korean leader has seen what happens to other leaders who give up their nuclear weapons such as Gaddafi -- who was weakened and killed by his own people in Libya. Now, as a result, Libya is now infested with terrorist groups and in chaos.
In a similar way, with the Iran nuclear deal being negotiated with other nations and the U.S., Kim Jong-un has seen the involvement of other nations in Iranian affairs. Currently, the Trump administration is fighting with Iran to try and find some way to tamper with the deal and therefore try to get out of it.
Iranian leaders are also responding and threatening to leave the deal altogether, which will only influence the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the official name of the North Korean government.
Trump and Kim Jong-un each want it 'their way'
It was reported that earlier this year when North Korean diplomats were supposed to meet with Trump administration officials in New York that their visas were canceled on the same day.
This no doubt sent a message to the North Korea regime that talks with the new administration would be uncertain. But its also been the view that North Korea is not interested in holding talks if they are to disarm and would rather talk with the U.S. if they know that they are going to get concessions that they do not have to give back such things as medical aid and food.
North Korea's management over humanitarian aid
In recent years, a hundred to thousands of North Korean's have been killed by floods. Groups such as the Red Cross promised to bring relief to those people but are not allowed to venture without supervision -- DPRK officials generally meet with these organizations and take the aid, but there's no telling whether or not it goes where it's needed. It was recently reported that due to a drought in parts of North Korea, there is the chance that the U.S. will offer aid.
What China, South Korea are not willing to accept
China also understand that putting too much pressure on North Korea to force them to disarm would only create more problems for them, with millions of North Koreans flooding through their borders.
U.S. Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis said this week that if the DPRK fired any missiles toward Guam, it would be "game on" -- implying that there would be military action. But South Korean President Moon Jae-in responded to this, saying that they would have to approve this decision and would block war instigated by the U.S. In fact, China sees that a border full of U.S. military is also not something that they want.
