US/NK entering ‘uncharted waters’
World
Envisioning ‘‘a very special moment for world peace,’’ President Donald Trump announced yesterday he would meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for highly anticipated summit talks in Singapore on June 12.
He set the stage for his announcement by hosting a 3am, made-for-TV welcome home for three Americans held by Kim’s government.
Final details in place, Trump and Kim agreed to the first face-to-face North Korea-US summit since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. It’s the most consequential and perhaps riskiest foreign policy effort so far in Trump’s presidency, as North Korea’s nuclear program approaches a major milestone — the capacity to strike the continental US with a thermonuclear warhead.
Trump says the US is aiming for ‘‘denuclearisation’’ of the entire Korean peninsula, but he has yet to fill in just what steps that might include, and what the timing would be.
‘‘We’re starting off on a new footing,’’ Trump said of himself and Kim as he welcomed the detainees in a floodlit ceremony at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. He hailed their release as a potential breakthrough in relations between the longtime adversary nations.
He and Kim ‘‘will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!’’ he said of the summit later on Twitter. He told reporters, ‘‘I think it’s going to be a big success.’’ Kim has suspended nuclear and missile tests and put his nuclear program up for negotiation, but questions remain about how serious his offer is and what disarmament steps he would be willing to take. The White House has said withdrawal of thousands of US troops from South Korea is ‘‘not on the table.’’ Trump had wanted to hold the summit in the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas but yielded to the concerns of officials who thought a DMZ meeting would focus attention on relations between the North and South rather than the nuclear question.
Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, who was among several Republican lawmakers who dined with Trump and National Security Adviser John Bolton before the detainees returned, said their release was a positive development, but he remained cautious about North Korea’s intentions.
‘‘We are in uncharted waters,’’ he said. ‘‘This is the highest level diplomacy that the United States has to offer. Failure would be a significant setback to diplomatic efforts.’’ As for the venue, why Singapore? White House spokesman Raj Shah said the country has relationships with both the US and North Korea, meaning both presidents’ security – and a sense of neutrality – can be assured.
The prosperous city state is a regional Southeast Asia hub whose free enterprise philosophy welcomes trading partners from everywhere. It has close diplomatic and military ties with the US and yet is also familiar ground for North Korea.
‘‘Since their independence, they’ve very deliberately developed a reputation as an honest broker between East and West,’’ said David Adelman, the former US ambassador. –AP