Why US's 1994 deal with North Korea failed and what Trump can learn from it

N Korea remains desperate for fuel, its regime exhibits paranoid, self-serving security obsession

After more than two decades of testing, North Korea finally has a missile that is powerful enough to deliver a nuclear warhead to US territory – that is, to Alaska and/or Hawaii, if estimates are to be believed. This is an extremely dangerous development, and if the Trump administration is to avoid spiralling into a nuclear confrontation with North Korea, it needs to understand what North Korea wants and why it behaves the way it does.

Fortunately for Trump’s team, there is precedent here. In 1994, the Clinton administration and North Korea signed an Agreed