Here are notes for my response to Question 7 in the interview, which was cut for time:

7. (BARRY) Meanwhile, after the recent U.S. airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, some analysts now believe that achieving “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” (CVID) of North Korea is no longer realistic. What message did this military action send to Pyongyang?

“The U.S. won’t publicly jettison its long-held CVID policy because Trump hasn’t offered any new policy whatsoever. But Trump may eventually have to offer security guarantees and liaison offices as steps to normalize relations with North Korea and to ensure they handle their nuclear weapons responsibly. Kim had to have been affected by the sudden and unprecedented American bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, but more importantly, he surely was disconcerted by Trump’s public flirting with the idea of regime change in Iran. That threat of regime change, however distant for the DPRK, is precisely why Kim sought a mutual defense agreement with Russia. Yet, Trump is full of surprises: in May, he met Syria’s new president while in Saudi Arabia, and Monday, he lifted U.S. sanctions on Syria.”

Photo at top: Kim Jong Un kneeling over a coffin of a dead North Korean soldier who presumably died fighting against Ukraine, with Russian diplomats and military officers in the background at a Pyongyang concert (screen capture taken from KCTV, June 30, 2025).