An insider evaluated that the failure of the denuclearization negotiations between the United States and the United States during the time of former US President Donald Trump was due to the US' hasty acceptance of the North Korea-US summit.



Part-time senior researcher Anthony Holmes of the US think tank 'Project 2049 Institute' said this in an article he wrote for '1945', a website on the topic of national security, on the 21st (local time).



Researcher Holmes served as special adviser to the U.S. Defense Secretary on North Korea from 2017 to 2021 during the Trump administration, and was also involved in the first North Korea-US summit in Singapore in 2018.



In 2017, the first year of Trump's inauguration, tensions between the U.S. and North Korea peaked as North Korea concentrated on nuclear development, such as testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and the U.S.



Former President Trump instructed him not to think big about North Korea policy and not be tied to the past, and Holmes' team produced dozens of drafts for the White House National Security Council.



After a series of meetings, the president's aides narrowed it down to three, with former President Trump opting for a policy known as 'maximum pressure'.



It was a policy of using all factors, including sanctions and investigations, to make North Korea understand that nuclear weapons made North Korea less secure, weakened its position, and increased the likelihood of a collision.



According to Holmes, this policy led to the removal or reduction of the presence of more than a dozen countries with diplomatic and economic relations with North Korea.



In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suddenly became interested in the North Korea-U.S. summit, and the South Korean government visited the White House and conveyed Chairman Kim's will, Holmes said in an article.



In March 2018, Chung Eui-yong, then head of the National Security Office of the Blue House, visited the White House to convey Chairman Kim's intention to denuclearize and hold talks, and it is believed that he was referring to the situation in which President Trump immediately accepted the talks.



But Holmes said at the time, many on the American side, including himself, had warned the White House strongly that if the summit was accepted, the denuclearization negotiations would return to their old patterns and North Korea would control the United States.



The reason was that North Korea would continue to spit out belligerent remarks and seek concessions in exchange for lowering the level, and that it could demand compensation just by agreeing to a dialogue.



Also, Holmes thought that if North Korea threatens to leave without dialogue, the US may have to pay a price to prevent it, and if negotiations are prolonged, reaching an agreement may be the goal rather than a good outcome.



He said that US allies and rivals at the time were watching to see if US resolve toward North Korea waned, he said, warning those countries could see as permission to resume relations with North Korea.



"We have explicitly said that we shouldn't have a summit with North Korea until it requires sanctions relief more than we want to talk to," Holmes said.



But Holmes said, "The president agreed to dialogue, and North Korea has returned to its past pattern," adding that "a two-year effort has failed."