“We wanted somebody who woke up every morning and thought about nothing but sanctions implementation,” one official said. “It’s a huge difference when you have somebody who isn’t worried about any of the other aspects of this.”

That’s one of the most interesting things I’ve heard related to NK policy in a long time. I’d love to know how high or key the person is who said it and more about what it means to them…

And in reading this excellent post, especially all the stuff about Treasury and State, it dawned on me — I can’t remember the last time I read anything about the CIA and other such org’s effort related to North Korea???

That could be a good thing — if the CIA and such are busy on the NK problem but just keeping it secret and out of the press. But, it could be a major disaster if the silence means they aren’t much involved in anything NK-related.

Since fear of the unknowns if/when collapse comes is what gives State much of its leverage, doing our best to condition the collapse should be one of our primary focal points if not the primary focal point. — Because collapse is inevitable. When is just unknown.

Nail in the coffin.