‘Let’s not be snookered again’ by North Korea in talks, Johnson says
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said, “Let’s not be snookered again” in talks with North Korea during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Johnson said the nation needs to take lessons learned from the situation with Iran into the meeting with North Korea that President Donald Trump announced this week. Trump said he would meet with leader Kim Jong Un this spring.
“Let’s not be snookered again,” Johnson said on the show. “Let’s not be Charlie Brown to North Korea’s Lucy. We’ve seen this movie before, that’s why we’ve called on President Trump to make sure we maintain the maximum pressure campaign.
“If anything I would continue to ratchet up sanctions until they have complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.”
The meeting would be the first between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Johnson serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I think talking to people is never a bad idea as long as we maintain that pressure,” he said. “… I’d rather talk to people to prevent any kind of miscalculation, and, let’s face it, a miscalculation on the Korean Peninsula could be devastating.”
Johnson said he thinks “the maximum pressure campaign is having its effect.”
The senator also addressed the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports Trump imposed.
“The talk of canceling NAFTA and now imposing these steel tariffs has just interjected uncertainty in the economy where it wasn’t necessary,” he said. “I’m really concerned that this is counterproductive.”