Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trump praises bond with Kim as talks pick up
In summit, president says he’s looking for ‘right deal’
HANOI, Vietnam — President Donald Trump today opened the second day of formal talks with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, in a summit aimed at once again trying to put the North on a schedule for dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
Trump made clear he was willing to accept a slower timetable for denuclearization.
“Speed is not important,” Trump said. “What’s important is that we do the right deal.”
Accompanied only by translators, the two leaders displayed a familiarity with each other as they began the day’s negotiations.
“The relationship is just very strong. And when you have a good relationship, a lot of good things happen,” Trump said. He added that, at their dinner the night before, “a lot of great ideas were being thrown about.” He offered no specifics.
Kim, for his part, said, “I believe by intuition that good results will be produced.”
“I believe that starting from yesterday, the whole world is looking at this spot right now,” he said. “I’m sure that all of them will be watching the moment that
we are sitting together side by side as if they are watching a fantasy movie.”
Asked later by a U.S. reporter if he is willing to denuclearize, Kim said, “If I’m not willing to do that, I won’t be here right now.”
The summit, the second between the leaders in eight months, started Wednesday, when Trump and Kim held discussions before meeting for dinner.
Trump referred to the authoritarian ruler as “my friend” and stated that he is “satisfied” with the progress of their negotiations.
Trump said he believed their first summit, held in Singapore, was a success and that their meetings in Hanoi “will be equal to or greater than the first.” He held up Vietnam as a model for economic growth for North Korea, which he said has “unlimited” potential.
U.S. negotiators are seeking detailed commitments from Pyongyang to dismantle at least some of its nuclear weapons facilities, while Kim’s regime wants relief from punishing economic sanctions and a declaration to formally end the Korean War.
The Korean conflict ended in 1953 with an armistice, essentially a cease-fire signed by North Korea, China and the 17-nation, U.S.-led United Nations Command. A peace declaration would tee up talks for a formal peace treaty that would involve other nations.
Asked on Wednesday if this summit would yield a political declaration to end the Korean War, Trump told reporters: “We’ll see.”
North and South Korea also want U.S. sanctions dialed back so they can resurrect two major symbols of rapprochement that by some estimates provided $150 million a year to the impoverished North: a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong and South Korean tours to the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort.
At the dinner Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney joined Trump and Kim, along with two senior North Korean aides, Kim Yong Chol and Ri Yong Ho, and two interpreters.
“Disbelief and misunderstandings were everywhere, and old hostile habits were getting in our way, but we’ve overcome it well, come face to face and walked all the way to Hanoi in 260 days,” Kim Jong Un said, referring to the Singapore summit last June. “I think it’s been a time period that took me more agony, effort and patience than ever. I am confident a great result will be produced this time to be welcomed by everyone, and I will do my best toward that goal.”
THE PITCH TO KIM
White House aides have said the president is determined to sell Kim on a vision of modernization and present him with a choice between continued global isolation or burgeoning economic growth if he gives up the North’s nuclear weapons program.
Ahead of meetings with Vietnamese officials earlier Wednesday, Trump praised Vietnam on Twitter as “thriving like few places on earth” and said North Korea has a chance to do the same “very quickly.”
“The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un,” Trump wrote. “We will know fairly soon — Very Interesting!”
In brief remarks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, Trump said he marveled at the construction projects his motorcade passed during his drive into Hanoi from the airport late Tuesday.
“Vietnam is thriving,” said Trump, who signed a trade deal with Vietnam to purchase U.S.-made plane engines and other equipment. Referring to Kim, Trump added: “We both felt very good about having this very important summit in Vietnam because you really are an example of what can happen with good thinking.”
Trump made his economic pitch to Kim during their summit in Singapore last summer, showing him a four-minute video produced by the White House that interspersed images with war and destruction with gleaming hyper-modern cityscapes.
Kim, in his mid-30s, has said in public addresses that he is focused on improving the North Korean economy, which has suffered under decades of international economic sanctions for the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and the regime’s corrupt governance.
Analysts have said Trump’s strategy is risky, given that U.S. intelligence officials have said Kim is unlikely to surrender an arsenal that is thought to include about 65 nuclear warheads.
Although Trump has pointed to a moratorium on testing that has been in place since November 2017, U.S. intelligence has discovered evidence that the North has sought to conceal its weapons programs despite publicly engaging with the United States and South Korea in denuclearization talks.
In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, Trump appeared to take aim at critics who have warned that he could wind up giving unwise concessions to Kim by easing economic sanctions too quickly.
“All false reporting (guessing) on my intentions with respect to North Korea,” the president wrote. “Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse. I believe that China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!”
SEEKING COMMITMENT
Trump administration officials, led by the State Department, have worked over the past two weeks to try to nail down specific commitments from Pyongyang to advance the process, but progress has been slow, according to U.S. and South Korean officials familiar with the talks.
The United States is said to be seeking a detailed timeline and verification process for Pyongyang to close its primary nuclear processing facility at Yongbyon — but North Korean negotiators have resisted agreeing to specifics.
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters during a visit to Vietnam’s commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City, that the “Americans are seeking our advice” on the negotiations.
The Russians and Chinese have long sought a bigger role in the negotiations akin to the six-party talks for North Korea that took place during the George W. Bush administration. And last year, Moscow went as far as to secretly offer Pyongyang a nuclear power plant in exchange for the dismantling of its nuclear and ballistic missile program.
The specifics of Lavrov’s claim that the United States was seeking advice from Moscow were not clear, and U.S. and Asian diplomats said privately that Moscow is a bit player in the negotiations.
Separately, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in a statement called last year’s Trump-Kim summit a “complete disaster” and discounted the North’s testing moratorium as a meaningful step forward.
“North Korea has a long history of pretending to comply in order to get what it wants — giving just enough to get something important in return, but never actually walking back its nuclear program,” he said.
Murphy also criticized Trump for lavishing “syrupy praise” on Kim, whose regime, like those of his father and grandfather, has imposed brutal rule, with more than 100,000 citizens held in hard-labor camps.
In 2017, Trump had denounced North Korea as a “hell no person deserves,” but he has touted his personal rapport with Kim since their first summit.
“The Democrats should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn’t do ‘it’ during eight years of the Obama Administration?” Trump wrote in another tweet Wednesday morning.
For his part, Kim on Tuesday visited the embassy of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Hanoi and later that day met with his advisers at their hotel.
Trump said he would hold a news conference after the summit today; he is scheduled to depart Hanoi for Washington on Air Force One after that.
Kim is scheduled to remain in Hanoi until Saturday and spend the extra time touring some development projects.
“We have a very busy day tomorrow,” Trump said Wednesday. “A lot of things are going to be solved, I hope.”
“North Korea has a long history of pretending to comply in order to get what it wants — giving just enough to get something important in return, but never actually walking back its nuclear program.” — Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.