North Korea's nuclear WMD program was achieved not accidentally, but through systematic deception over the last quarter-century, using peace talks, denuclearization commitments, and diplomatic overtures for one purpose: to buy time to research, gain the resources necessary, and then deploy a formidable and unstoppable nuclear weapons administration capable of finishing the Korean War in "Final Victory" by reuniting with South Korea on the North's terms.  These terms, of course, include removing the "imperialist" U.S. from the Korean peninsula.  (It should be noted that their view, the Korean War was only postponed according to the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement but is now back on, as Kim declared the agreement invalid in March 2013.)

The letter Kim Jong-un sent to Donald Trump is not the first time North Korea has committed itself to denuclearization.  Over the decades, the Juche communists have made such overtures no fewer than nine times since Clinton sat in the oval office: the 1992 Joint Declaration with South Korea; the 1994 Agreed Framework to dismantle all nuclear reactors and allow inspections, then after a long period of research and advancement in nuclear technology; and then again in August 2003, February 2004, July 2005, September 2005, October 2007, February 2009, and February 2012.

Each and every time, North Korea violated, nullified, cheated on, or reneged on these agreements or declarations of intent to denuclearize, always blaming others for its backtracking.  So egregious and brazen has been the deception by the Kim dynasty that by October 2016, Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, could only wring his hands over the last quarter-century of failed attempts to tame the North Korean tiger and conclude that "the notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize is probably a lost cause."

Trump was elected specifically because he doesn't wiring his hands only to kick the can down the road, but because he knows how to get things done and then does it.

He is now facing what may be his greatest geopolitical challenge – "a very, very hard game of poker," as he put it in January.  Trump must make a crucial choice: how should he and his administration approach the "talks" he has in principle agreed to have with Kim?

Trump understands he must be extremely careful and not allow this meeting – if it occurs – to be another deceptive maneuver that will give Kim the time needed to move to the next phase of his WMD development: completing ICBM re-entry technology.

In this regard, Senate homeland security chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) advised President Trump, "Let's not be snookered again.  Let's not be Charlie Brown to North Korea's Lucy."  Naval War College professor Tom Nichols's caution was even more blunt: "This trap is so obvious even Wile E. Coyote wouldn't walk into it."

Trump has given his assurance that "maximum pressure" will be kept on North Korea via sanctions and continued military exercises while preparing for the meeting.  And while he has also indicated he "will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete action" toward denuclearization starting now, there are also concrete steps that Trump should take to ensure that Kim can't stack the deck or switch the cards in this high-stakes no-limit contest.

The first critical step is for Trump to frame the nature of the talks for what they really are: a discussion of the terms of Kim's surrender.  The letter Kim sent agreeing to halt missile tests and denuclearize is Kim's capitulation to the military pressure, sanctions, and world scorn toward his regime's outlaw behavior.  In essence, Kim is suing for peace and should be treated accordingly.  Any other approach is giving Kim a set of four aces when all he would have had otherwise is a pair of twos.

The North Korean anti-theist dictator is a murderous criminal who has continued his father's and grandfather's enslavement and brutally inhumane treatment of the nation's 25 million inhabitants, incessant defying and breaking the laws of nations, regular torturing and executing Christians for having Bibles, and government-enforced robbing of the North Korea people of their God-given rights of liberty and property.  This is why the civilized world has agreed to prosecute an economic war against North Korea via sanctions.

For there to be success in the upcoming meeting, Gang Leader Kim must be fully aware that the sit-down is not a summit or negotiation between world leaders, but a determination of terms for his regime's surrender and the penalties that will ensue (denuclearization, ending ballistic missile production, etc.).

Former CIA director and now nominated secretary of state Mike Pompeo emphasized on Chris Wallace's Fox News Sunday that there must be three essential components of the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear enterprise.  Denuclearization must be 1) complete 2) verifiable, and 3) irreversible.  This is the only way to ensure an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons production and delivery program.  Yet as Ambassador John Bolton has pointed out, to ensure that these three objectives are accomplished, the inspections "would have to be so intrusive, so large, so pervasive across the country that it would threaten the stability of the dictatorship itself."

In other words, unless Trump wants to get trapped in an Obama-style Iran nuclear deal – "the worst deal ever negotiated," according to Trump – where inspections are conducted on North Korea's terms, where military sites are off limits, where nuclear power is continued to be allowed "for energy purposes," leaving reactors intact – he will have to impose the most pervasive and extensive inspection regime in history.  Only under an inspection regime that has full, open, transparent, anywhere-anytime access to all nuclear, military, and research facilities can there be any possibility of complete, verifiable, and permanent denuclearization.

Further, the inspection team formation will have to be on U.S.'s and its partners' terms, with the verifications being conducted by U.S.-led inspection teams under control of the U.S.  Historically, the IAEA and United Nations inspection teams or teams including allies of the criminal enterprise, such as China and Russia, provide too great an opportunity for more cheating, obfuscation, manipulation, and deception by the rebel Juche socialists.

Beyond imposing these incredibly elaborate, strict, and intrusive inspections to verify the initial denuclearization, the inspections and verification regime would have to be permanent to guarantee that denuclearization isn't abandoned.  And to ensure their perpetuity, a permanent force must be ready to immediately act if Little Rocket Man and his regime decide – as they have in the past – to expel the inspectors or start to rebuild a thoroughly dismantled and removed nuclear program, whether at home or abroad (like in Syria).

But is it rational to think that this gang whose national objective since the Korean War has been to defeat the U.S. in order to reunite the peninsula under its rule will allow a permanent inspections regime to penetrate and be permanently observing every corner of its kingdom?

This could possibly occur only if Kim is finally serious and sees his position as one of surrender, where he and his regime get to live instead of being annihilated by war.  Trump has brought this reality to the final hand in this 25-year World Series of Poker with North Korea.  But unless the DPRK despot understands that the U.S. is holding a royal flush, it's unlikely he will voluntarily fold to the overwhelming yet absolutely necessary inspections and verifications that will keep the nuclear tin can from being kicked down the road again.  For the civilized world to win this life-and-death clash of civilizations, it's time for Trump to go all in.

Mark Hanna holds an M.A. in international studies and has provided briefings to government officials on immigration, radical Islam, and other national security issues.  His works have also been published in Real Clear Politics, PJMedia, ZeroHedge, and The Investigative Project.  He can be reached at mhanna@protonmail.com.