In January 2009, in his first inaugural address, Barack Obama famously directed these words to adversaries of the United States, including North Korea: “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”Pyongyang responded in the first months of the new administration with a series of provocations, throwing any potential future negotiations off track. Washington’s North Korea diplomacy in the Obama era never fully recovered.WELCOMING OBAMAPyongyang’s response to the pledge of an “extended hand” included the following: the detention and imprisonment of two U.S. journalists in the Tumen River border area with