The US was advised to create a road map for normalising diplomatic relations with a nuclear-equipped North Korea.
The assessment, from US-based asset manager Matthews Asia, accepts that North Korea will not halt its nuclear programme, which its leader Kim Jong Un relies on for bargaining power but does not intend to use except in defence.
In 1991, the US gave Vietnam a road map for mending their ties. The two countries established full diplomatic relations four years later. Since 1995, trade between the nations has grown from $451 million to more than $50 billion.
“Vietnam has made significant market-based economic reforms and the private sector has expanded rapidly in recent years,” said Andy Rothman, investment strategist. “A similar process might also lead to progress with North Korea, with a focus on eventually reducing that country’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.”
Rothman said it would be impossible for the US to destroy North Korea's nuclear arsenal without a ruinous ground invasion. Diplomacy, he said, was the only solution.
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