Foreign Relations & International Law

Lawfare Daily: Trump, Kim, and the Future of Korea

Daniel Byman, Andrew Yeo, Jen Patja
Tuesday, August 25, 2026, 7:00 AM

Catching up on the U.S. negotiations with North Korea.

Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor Daniel Byman sits down with Andrew Yeo, senior fellow and the Korea Foundation Chair at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Asia Policy Studies and professor of politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., to talk about Trump's decision to engage in talks with North Korea's leader while curtailing military exercises with South Korea. They discuss what might be expected from negotiations with North Korea, how Seoul perceives Trump's policy changes, and how curtailing military exercises will affect South Korean and U.S. capabilities.

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Daniel Byman is a professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Yeo is a senior fellow and SK-Korea Foundation Chair at the Brookings Institution and professor of politics at The Catholic University of America.
Jen Patja is the editor of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security, and serves as Lawfare’s Director of Audience Engagement. Previously, she was Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics and Deputy Director of the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier, where she worked to deepen public understanding of constitutional democracy and inspire meaningful civic participation.
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