U.S., N. Korea Talks: Take 2
Day after canceling summit, Trump says it may be back
WASHINGTON — A day after accusing North Korea of “open hostility” and calling off a June 12 summit with its leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump said Friday that talks with Pyongyang had resumed and expressed cautious optimism that the meeting could be held after all.
“We’ll see what happens. It could even be the 12th,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy.
“We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it.”
The about-face followed a conciliatory statement by Kim’s government saying it regretted Trump’s action and remained willing to talk. The president called it “a very nice statement.”
But the exchange did little to clarify the highly charged situation and instead underscored the mixed messages and unpredictability on both sides.
They remain far apart on the central issue of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal: Trump demands Kim completely and irreversibly give up his program, while North Korea considers its weaponry and ballistic missile capability essential for its survival.
Officials cautioned that the latest burst of hopefulness does not ensure the summit will happen
Asked by reporters on Friday if he was optimistic, Defense Secretary James Mattis said, “I am optimistic that the diplomats are working, our diplomats are working very hard to make this happen.”
The most important factor in salvaging the summit may be the stake that Trump and Kim have in holding a face-to-face meeting, even if it falls short of achieving a major breakthrough.
“Kim wants to meet with Trump to give himstatus. Trumpwants to meet with Kimso he will be the center of global attention,” said Jon Wolfsthal, director of the anti-proliferation Nuclear Crisis Group and a former Obama administration official.
The possibility that the summit will be saved likely reassured South Korea, whose president, Moon Jae-in, has worked to coax Trump and Kim to the negotiating table.
Moon, who had visited the White House Tuesday to buttress the case for the TrumpKim meeting, was taken by surprise by Trump’s cancellation two days later.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday tried to mend fences. He phoned his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, to President Donald Trump says his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could still happen. reaffirm the two governments’ “shared commitment” to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the State Department said.
“They committed to remaining closely coordinated in all of their efforts to create conditions for dialogue with North Korea and agreed that must continue until North Korea embraces denuclearization,” the department said in a statement.
A White House advance team scheduled to go to Singapore, the planned location for the summit, has not canceled its trip.
“We have got some possibly good news on the Korea summit,” Mattis told reporters, calling the confusion between Trump and North Korea the “usual give-and-take.”
That description is contrary to the reaction of many diplomacy and national security experts, whohave expressed consternation at the administration’s handling of the highstakes dealings with North Korea.
Analysts said the back-and-forth over whether the meeting will occur should temper expectations about what the summit will achieve.