Planning begins for meeting that may never happen
A day after President Donald Trump accepted an invitation to meet Kim Jong-un, the White House on Friday began planning a high-level diplomatic encounter so risky and seemingly far-fetched, that some of Trump’s aides believe it will never happen.
The administration is deliberating over the logistics and location of the meeting, with a senior State Department diplomat noting that the most obvious venue is the Peace House, a conference building in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
But officials said the United States still needed to establish contact with North Korea to verify the message from Kim, which was conveyed by South Korean envoys to Trump on Thursday.
They warned that Kim could change his mind or break the promises he had made.
“The US has made zero concessions, but North Korea has made some promises,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“This meeting won’t take place without concrete actions that match the promises that have been made by North Korea.”
The White House later clarified that Sanders was not adding preconditions to the meeting, but merely emphasising the consequences if Kim conducted tests or interfered with joint military exercises at the end of this month.
On Friday, Trump reiterated on Twitter that “the deal with North Korea is very much in the making” and that it would be, “if completed, a very good one for the World”.
The White House’s muddled message highlighted the confusion sowed by Trump’s on-thespot decision to meet Kim.
Having built its North Korea policy on sanctions and threats of military action, the administration must now learn the language of engagement.
With all the potential traps and internal misgivings, some officials said they believed the chances of a meeting between the two leaders actually happening were less than 50 per cent.
Privately, however, Trump sounded muted rather than buoyant, according to a person familiar with a round of calls he made on Thursday to solicit feedback about his surprise move.
While the president told people he liked the concept of a once-ina-lifetime breakthrough, the person said, he struck a less boisterous note than he usually did when he placed a bet on himself.
But in the past 24 hours, the president had told confidants that he felt vindicated by his decision. Some advisers in the room with Trump and the South Korean envoys — including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the national security adviser Lt-Gen H.R. McMaster — expressed concerns about a meeting, but nobody vocally opposed it.
Trump also had to mollify a rattled ally, Japan. In a call, he reassured Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the US would not ease its pressure campaign on North Korea.
Trump’s call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday was more relaxed. US officials said they expected Xi would offer Beijing as a venue for the meeting.