Trump Agrees to Face-to-Face Talks With Kim
SEOUL, South Korea (Dispatches) — After a year of threats and diatribes, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have agreed to meet face-to-face for talks about the North’s nuclear program.
Trump said a meeting "is being planned” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un just hours after speaking to South Korean national security chief Chung Eui-yong on Thursday.
It remains to be seen whether a summit, if it takes place, could lead to any meaningful breakthrough after an unusually provocative year. North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear weapon to date and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
Analysts say Trump’s decision to accept Kim’s invitation for a summit and to do it by May could be linked in part to a desire to claim a significant achievement in his most difficult foreign policy challenge before the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Both leaders have interests in striking a big deal, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute. Should it happen, the May summit between Trump and Kim will come shortly after a planned meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April.
It’s likely that North Korea will also push for summits with China, Russia and Japan later in the year to further break out of its isolation, Cheong said.
Trump will likely try to achieve something dramatic in his meeting with Kim, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, including a possible exchange of verbal commitments on the denuclearization of North Korea and a peace treaty between the two countries.
The United States and North Korea will likely be talking quite a bit in coming months and maybe even exchanging high-level delegations to set up the logistics of the summit.
One of the biggest questions is where it will take place.
The United States would prefer Washington, while North Korea will want Trump to come to Pyongyang, its capital.
Unless the countries agree to a third-country location, which would likely be South Korea, experts see it as more likely that Trump will fly to Pyongyang.
Chung, who had paid a visit to Pyongyang earlier this week, said he had passed on a message to Trump that Kim was "committed to demilitarization” and had "pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests” if its security is guaranteed.
Speaking outside the White House on Thursday, he said Trump had expressed willingness to sit down with Kim "as soon as possible.”
While no incumbent U.S. president has ever set foot in North Korea, Trump might be willing to become the first because it would fit the strong-willed, in-your-face type of leadership he tries to project, Hong said.
A big question will be whether Trump can accept a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program rather than its elimination, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
Kim will likely want to keep some nukes as a deterrent, but that might be hard for Trump to tolerate when he spent so much time harshly criticizing his predecessor, Barack Obama, for allegedly standing by and watching as North Korea became a nuclear threat.
Some experts speculate that North Korea might ask for a halt of annual military drills between the United States and South Korea or even the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
China, North Korea’s main ally, said it welcomed the "positive signal” from both sides.
"We welcome this positive signal by the US and North Korea in having direct dialog,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing on Friday. He said that "the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is moving in the right direction.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also hailed the proposed meeting on Friday, saying, "We do hope that this meeting is going to take place.”
"Certainly, it is required to normalize the situation around the Korean Peninsula,” Lavrov was quoted by Russian state news agency Tass as saying on Friday.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul is consulting with Washington on the planned summit between Trump and Kim.
Shortly after the announcement about the possible meeting, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said he appreciated "North Korea’s change.”
Abe, however, attributed the diplomatic overture to the pressure of the sanctions on Pyongyang, saying, "We will continue imposing the utmost pressure until North Korea takes specific actions toward thorough, verifiable, and irreversible demilitarization.”
"Japan and the U.S. have been and will be together 100%,” Abe said.
Trump said a meeting "is being planned” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un just hours after speaking to South Korean national security chief Chung Eui-yong on Thursday.
It remains to be seen whether a summit, if it takes place, could lead to any meaningful breakthrough after an unusually provocative year. North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear weapon to date and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
Analysts say Trump’s decision to accept Kim’s invitation for a summit and to do it by May could be linked in part to a desire to claim a significant achievement in his most difficult foreign policy challenge before the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Both leaders have interests in striking a big deal, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute. Should it happen, the May summit between Trump and Kim will come shortly after a planned meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April.
It’s likely that North Korea will also push for summits with China, Russia and Japan later in the year to further break out of its isolation, Cheong said.
Trump will likely try to achieve something dramatic in his meeting with Kim, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, including a possible exchange of verbal commitments on the denuclearization of North Korea and a peace treaty between the two countries.
The United States and North Korea will likely be talking quite a bit in coming months and maybe even exchanging high-level delegations to set up the logistics of the summit.
One of the biggest questions is where it will take place.
The United States would prefer Washington, while North Korea will want Trump to come to Pyongyang, its capital.
Unless the countries agree to a third-country location, which would likely be South Korea, experts see it as more likely that Trump will fly to Pyongyang.
Chung, who had paid a visit to Pyongyang earlier this week, said he had passed on a message to Trump that Kim was "committed to demilitarization” and had "pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests” if its security is guaranteed.
Speaking outside the White House on Thursday, he said Trump had expressed willingness to sit down with Kim "as soon as possible.”
While no incumbent U.S. president has ever set foot in North Korea, Trump might be willing to become the first because it would fit the strong-willed, in-your-face type of leadership he tries to project, Hong said.
A big question will be whether Trump can accept a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program rather than its elimination, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
Kim will likely want to keep some nukes as a deterrent, but that might be hard for Trump to tolerate when he spent so much time harshly criticizing his predecessor, Barack Obama, for allegedly standing by and watching as North Korea became a nuclear threat.
Some experts speculate that North Korea might ask for a halt of annual military drills between the United States and South Korea or even the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
China, North Korea’s main ally, said it welcomed the "positive signal” from both sides.
"We welcome this positive signal by the US and North Korea in having direct dialog,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing on Friday. He said that "the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is moving in the right direction.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also hailed the proposed meeting on Friday, saying, "We do hope that this meeting is going to take place.”
"Certainly, it is required to normalize the situation around the Korean Peninsula,” Lavrov was quoted by Russian state news agency Tass as saying on Friday.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul is consulting with Washington on the planned summit between Trump and Kim.
Shortly after the announcement about the possible meeting, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said he appreciated "North Korea’s change.”
Abe, however, attributed the diplomatic overture to the pressure of the sanctions on Pyongyang, saying, "We will continue imposing the utmost pressure until North Korea takes specific actions toward thorough, verifiable, and irreversible demilitarization.”
"Japan and the U.S. have been and will be together 100%,” Abe said.