Views expressed in Opinion articles are exclusively the authors’ own and do not represent those of NK News. 

Negotiations between the United States and North Korea regarding the denuclearization of that brutal dictatorship are at a standstill after Pyongyang walked away from working group discussions recently.

However, the present setback of Pyongyang-Washington relations is not entirely due to the intransigence of North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un.

While Kim is indeed an untrustworthy and murderous dictator with unreasonable demands for near-total sanctions relief, that is hardly the complete story. 

Unfortunately, much of the blame lies with past and present