Story highlights Jonathan Cristol: It's completely unrealistic in calling for North Korea to denuclearize

But Trump avoided hyper-aggressive tone of past statements on North Korea, he says

Jonathan Cristol is a fellow at the World Policy Institute and a senior fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College. You can follow him @jonathancristol. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) President Donald Trump's speech to South Korea's National Assembly had its special touches. He could not pass up the opportunity to mention his election victory and to plug one of his golf courses. But in total, Wednesday's speech was somewhat staid, at times sounding like he was reading the Wikipedia page on South Korea.

Jonathan Cristol

Trump managed not to insult South Korean President Moon Jae-in or the Korean people. More importantly, he did not directly threaten nuclear war with North Korea or threaten to withdraw US forces from the Korean Peninsula.

He reaffirmed the US-South Korean alliance, albeit without the standard "ironclad" language, and he said, "I know that the Republic of Korea, which has become a tremendously successful nation, will be a faithful ally of the United States very long into the future," without saying that the reverse would also be true. So, measured by the admittedly low standard of not saying something that might trigger war and risk millions of lives, the speech was one of Trump's best.

The bad news is that Trump did not articulate a new strategy for dealing with North Korea. He articulated a willingness to talk to North Korea, which is good, but he continued his insistence on denuclearization as a precondition for talks -- "We are only prepared to discuss this brighter path for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program" -- which is not so much bad as it is pointless. North Korea will never denuclearize, and insisting on denuclearization as a precondition to talks is tantamount to saying there will be no talks.

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Trump's choice of words was not especially bombastic or aggressive in their tone, but saying, "We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction," is an extreme and dangerous statement in its substance -- if Trump means what he says.

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