The world looked on throughout the Trump administration as the president of the United States courted Kim Jong Un, the young leader of North Korea, creating hope for progress toward the normalization of relations and the easing of tensions in Northeast Asia. 

In the end, the three Trump-Kim meetings failed to substantially shift the status quo on the Korean Peninsula, as the Trump administration insisted on complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) as a prerequisite for tangible outcomes such as sanctions reduction and economic aid, handicapping negotiations with the North.

But their meetings did serve