Report says Trump initiated a broad effort against North Korea as soon as he took office

When writing about North Korea in recent years, we have expressed the hope that the United States was undertaking a serious, behind-the-scenes effort to destablize and ultimately topple the regime there. Apparently, at least since Donald Trump took office, this has indeed been the case:

Early in his administration, President Trump signed a directive outlining a strategy of pressure against North Korea that involved actions across a broad spectrum of government agencies and led to the use of military cyber-capabilities, according to U.S. officials.

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As part of the campaign, U.S. Cyber Command targeted hackers in North Korea’s military spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, by barraging their computer servers with traffic that choked off Internet access. Trump’s directive, a senior administration official said, also included instructions to diplomats and officials to bring up North Korea in virtually every conversation with foreign interlocutors and urge them to sever all ties with Pyongyang. Those conversations have had significant success, particularly in recent weeks as North Korea has tested another nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles, officials said. So pervasive is the diplomatic campaign that some governments have found themselves scrambling to find any ties with North Korea. When Vice President Pence called on one country to break relations during a recent overseas visit, officials there reminded him that they never had relations with Pyongyang. Pence then told them, to their own surprise, that they had $2 million in trade with North Korea. Foreign officials, who asked that their country not be identified, described the exchange. Let's offer the usual caveat that this comes from anonymous sources, and because of that we're being asked to trust the Washington Post - something anyone would be wise not to do. The grain of salt must be taken for that reason, although to me this sounds like Trump Administration officials who wanted to get this story out. If that's not the case and someone is giving up information publicly that's supposed to be kept secret from the Norks, then the Post is aiding the enemy and is committing treason in practice if not as a legality.

Or maybe the Post thinks it's exposing a misdeed of the Trump Administration, when in fact this sounds like an awfully good policy to me.

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Ever since it became feasible that North Korea might have nuclear weapons, it's been understood that trying to take out the regime in a strictly military fashion risked an absolute bloodbath on the Korean peninsula and probably beyond. Getting rid of Kim Jong Un is going to require us to weaken his regime in every conceivable way, particularly from within to the extent that's possible when you're dealing with a sadistic dictator who, at least according to some reports, is willing to feed those who threaten him to hungry dogs. Does all this explain Bowl Cut Jr.'s bellicosity of late? Is he furiously testing weapons because he knows his regime is under seige and he figures it's his only chance to survive? I suppose it's possible, but that's no reason to sit back and let him continue to operate. U.S. president after U.S. president has talked about the need to deal with North Korea, only to offer little more than half-baked measures that make little or no impact because everyone is afraid of what the Norks will do if their backs are against the wall. The result of that has been more and more time to develop these weapon systems, which are now threatening the United States and really the entire world. Remember, if they can hit San Francisco, they can be fired in every other direction as well. Like it or not, Donald Trump is a disruptor. He looks at bad situations that have been allowed to persist for far too long and refuses to simply continue with the status quo. Disruptors tend to upset establishment types, but they also tend to be the ones who solve problems. Kim Jong Un is a problem that urgently needs to be solved.

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