Schism surfaces in U.S. approach to N. Korea talks

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump reveled in his historic weekend stroll into North Korea, administration officials were sharply at odds Monday over what demands to make of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, as they prepared to restart negotiations on a nuclear deal.

Pushing an internal debate into the open, John Bolton, the national security adviser and the most prominent hawk in the administration, reacted angrily to a report in the New York Times about the possibility of a deal to effectively freeze North Korea’s nuclear activity in return for U.S. concessions.

Officials are considering a freeze as a first step toward a more comprehensive agreement for Kim to give up his entire nuclear program. Bolton has long insisted that the North Koreans completely dismantle their nuclear program and give up their entire arsenal of warheads before getting any rewards.

“This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the president,” Bolton wrote on Twitter. “There should be consequences.”

But some senior administration officials have been discussing the idea of an incremental approach under which North Korea would first close down its nuclear facilities to prevent it from making new fissile material, in effect freezing its program but leaving its existing arsenal in place.

In exchange, the Americans would make some concessions that would help improve the living conditions of North Korea, which is under heavy sanctions, or strengthen relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

Among those considering such ideas are senior diplomats, said people familiar with the discussions.

In April, during a visit to the White House by President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Trump signaled that gradual concessions by both sides might be necessary.

“There are various smaller deals that could happen,” he said. “You could work out step-by-step pieces, but at this moment, we’re talking about the big deal. The big deal is we have to get rid of nuclear weapons.”

U.S. officials involved in North Korea policy assert, even in private, the administration’s long-run goal has been consistent all along: to have Kim, with whom Trump met at the border Sunday, give up all his nuclear weapons and the ability to build more.

In the short run, Trump’s public comments — and the showmanship of going to the demilitarized zone and stepping over a low concrete barrier to walk with Kim on his soil — is another sign of the limited influence of Trump’s most hard-line advisers.