[quote=@catchamber]It's a new approach, but it's incredibly risky and doesn't provide many novel benefits.[/quote]
Well not yet. We haven't started.

[quote]I know China doesn't want North Korea to experience a revolution, and it's obvious that Xi is trying to get Kim and Trump to play nice to help facilitate that goal. However, the US can sit back and let China deal with the situation, and I doubt China's stupid enough to damage their international credibility by backing out of their sanctions enforcement role.[/quote]
sure they are. I mean it's not so much "stupidity" as conflicting interests -- DPRK cannot fail, therefore China is willing to skirt some rules. Almost all the recent progress we've made, we've made by strong-arming China into playing along. Most of the banks, vessels, overland routes (somewhat obviously), etc. which have been keeping Kim afloat have gone through China. We take our foot off the throat, they'll go right back, or at least there's no reason to expect they wouldn't.

[quote]As for China's water shortage, [url=http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-plans-big-boost-to-sea-water-desalination-capacity]they're already working on that[/url].[/quote]
[url=https://globalriskinsights.com/2017/08/shocks-china-growing-water-crisis/]Drop in the proverbial bucket.[/url] If we have to wait for China to meet its long-term water goals before anything happens with the DPRK, we're going to be waiting an awful long time. 

[quote]Many former member republics of the USSR come to mind. Either way, I'll state that I favor economic strong arming as the way to incentivize North Korea to improve its citizens' living standards, because war and recovery are expensive.[/quote]
Fair enough. Bear in mind, any effort to reconcile North Korea with the modern world is gonna be expensive, on the order of post-war recoveries. They're that poorly off.

[quote]I honestly don't see how anyone can guarantee that North Korea will fully comply with denuclearization. While North Korea's not a big country, it's still going to be difficult for any country or NGO to scour its entirety in search of anything remotely related to the production of nuclear weapons. Even if that was reasonable to achieve, it's not impossible for North Korea to outfit submarines with ICBMs.
[/quote]
All things we should bring up when talking with the boss. The wariness is healthy though. Shit, I wish we were this careful when we signed that Iran agreement.