For one, the domestic political calendar in the United States militates against a resumption of bilateral diplomacy with the North. The Trump administration spent the last four months preoccupied with an impeachment fight that resembled a sloppy, drunken bar-room brawl between America’s two major political parties. The impeachment saga may be over, but a new saga called the 2020 presidential campaign is well past the starting gates. Trump will spend the next 10 months solely focused on staying in the White House, traveling the country donning a red “Keep America Great” cap, firing up his legion of hard-core supporters, and making fun of his Democratic rivals on the campaign trail as socialist misfits who will turn America into the Soviet Union. His mind is running on a single-dimension: re-election. Everything else, including diplomacy with Pyongyang, will be a distant second.

Two, the depressing reality is that nuclear talks with the North haven’t been going anywhere for awhile now. Discussions have never recuperated from the Hanoi summit a year ago, when Trump and Kim flew back home empty-handed after misreading one another. Kim is clearly past the irritation stage; a significant portion of his speech to the Workers Party plenum last December was a long, grievance-filled tirade against Washington’s behavior. Trump may still put on a happy face about the personal relationship with Kim, but the North Korean leader may no longer have any confidence in the president’s intentions, let alone his ability to deliver. Kim’s subordinates have been even harsher in their language. In the words of Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, “We have wasted our time with U.S. for more than a year and a half.” Apparently, Trump feels the same way.