This is John Batchel. Conversation with my colleague Mary Kissel, member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal once upon a time, now executive vice president Stevenson, Incorporated, and former senior advisor to the Secretary of State.

Mary and I discussing State Department challenges as the Trump administration prepares for the second term.

North Korea. Mary describes the carrot and stick approach that challenges as the Trump administration prepares for the second term.

North Korea.

Mary describes the carrot and stick approach that the Trump administration in the first term used to some effect, but not successfully in the end, North Korea remains a rogue state.

However, there is something to be done.

And Mary describes it very carefully why it matters.

Right now, there are North Korean troops in combat in the Kersk salient against our allies,

the Ukrainians.

Much more on this later tonight.

Mary Kissel, what is to be done with North Korea?

I think that's a very accurate summation, John. The Biden team essentially ignored North Korea,

didn't try to get them to the negotiating table, didn't try to separate them from China and

Russia, and look at where we are now. We cannot think about North Korea as a bilateral problem between North Korea and

the United States or Japan and North Korea or South Korea and North Korea.

It's not the way the world works.

North Korea is a problem because it is working in concert with Russia and China, namely, most obviously, sending troops to support the

Russian war effort in Ukraine, not to mention continuing what they always do, which is cybercriminality,

drug running, in all manner of criminal activity around the world.

I'm sure you've seen the reports, John, just as well as your listeners have,

of North Koreans trying to recruit people over LinkedIn here in the United States.

I mean, it's a big problem, and it's not a good actor,

...