Andrei Lankov, an Associate Professor at Kookmin University, Seoul, and Adjunct Research Fellow at the Research School of Pacifica and Asian Studies, Australian National University, writes, “The efforts of the negotiators are not likely to produce the ideal outcome, that is, complete and verifiable destruction of all North Korean nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, it is possible to achieve the compromise, which will make the further increase of the North Korean nuclear arsenal difficult.”

The U.S. Department of State released this fact sheet on the disablement of the Yongbyon reactor, the lifting of the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to the DPRK and intent to the rescind the DPRK’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Ralph Cossa, President of the Pacific Forum CSIS, writes, “Some have argued that it would make more sense to wait until the list is delivered and verified before restrictions are lifted, and they are probably right. Unfortunately, that was not what Washington promised. If we have learned nothing else about North Korea we should know one thing by now: While Pyongyang might not be too good at living up to its own promises, it will not budge an inch if it perceives that others are not living up to theirs.”