All quiet on the East Asian front?

CHINA is making final preparations to host South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a pre-Christmas trilateral summit. While the talks have a broad focus, North Korea may rise to the top of the agenda with Kim Jong-un threatening a major end-of-year provocation (a "Christmas gift") for Donald Trump unless the US president makes concessions in the stalled nuclear talks.

The "new path" Pyongyang has threatened if Washington fails to deliver on this agenda could include resumption of intercontinental ballistic missile launches capable of reachin…