32 Quotes by Peter Beck

I think the visit will ultimately help them bring North Korea back to the table, but I'm not sure Pyongyang is serious about negotiating.

I think most of the world can live with that India is held to a double standard with North Korea.

Were (Kim's trip) purely for external consumption, there certainly would have been some photo ops. We have to assume that this was educational to learn how special economic zones function.

The problem is that Beijing places far greater priority on North Korean stability and regime survival than on the peninsula remaining nuclear-free.

Thus, China is committed to the six-party nuclear talks as a means of keeping the lines of communication open and maintaining the status quo. Beijing is satisfied to play the role of convener and occasionally arbitrator, not dealmaker or enforcer. Achieving a nuclear accord is purely optional.

Washington is certainly concerned that Seoul's North Korean policy will lean further to the left.

Even though the crackdown on North Korea's illicit banking activities in Macau demonstrated that China is not completely immune to outside pressures to rein in bad behavior, Beijing is unlikely to shut down the North's remaining banking activities.

As time goes on, I am expecting, I am waiting for North Korea to act in a provocative manner, to lash out verbally, potentially even with a missile or even a nuclear test. Especially as Washington continues to try to squeeze them, and they are going to look for a way to get the world's attention by saying or doing something that is provocative.

The very nature of sweeping reforms would be inherently destabilizing to the regime. So it's more likely they would be halting reforms.