A commitment to denuclearization should be required before negotiations with North Korea

Study and practice of how sovereign states, international institutions, and non-state actors interact across borders. Encompasses diplomacy, negotiation, alliances, and conflict — the foundational domain through which global order is constructed, contested, and maintained.

Body of rules, treaties, and customary norms governing relations between sovereign states and other international actors. Provides the legal framework for diplomacy, armed conflict, trade, human rights, and the functioning of international institutions — enforced through courts, arbitration, and state compliance.

The diplomacy lens matters because this was not only a military pause. It was also a negotiated pause assembled through intermediaries, public statements, and a still-uncertain next phase.