By the end of 2017, US fears of a conflict with North Korea that might escalate into a nuclear war had never been higher. Then in March, the White House surprised everyone, by announcing out of nowhere that Trump would hold face-to-face talks with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. Over the course of three eventful months, Fault Lines spoke with a range of Washington insiders in an effort to understand Donald Trump's North Korea strategy. They include former US government officials, policy-makers and intelligence analysts who combined have spent more than 100 years working on North Korea. The result is a portrait of an impulsive brand of leadership in which personality confounds policy, with far-reaching consequences for North Korea, US allies in East Asia, and the United States.