Trump, North’s leader to meet
WASHINGTON — After months of trading insults and threats of nuclear annihilation, President Donald Trump agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un by May to negotiate an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, South Korean and U.S. officials said Thursday. No American president has evermet with a North Korea leader.
The South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters outside the White House of the planned summit, after briefing Mr. Trump and other top U.S. officials about a rare meeting with Mr. Kim in the North Korean capital on Monday.
Any face-to-face meeting, if it takes place, would be unprecedented during seven decades of animosity between the U.S. and North Korea. The countries do not even have formal diplomatic relations. They remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armisticeand not a peace treaty.
Mr. Chung said he had told Mr. Trump that Mr. Kim says he is committed to “denuclearization” and has pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests — providing a rare diplomatic opening after a year of escalating tensions over the North’s tests. The rival Koreas have already agreed to hold a
leadership summit in late April.
“[Mr. Kim] expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible,” Mr. Chung said. “President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization.”
Mr. Chung did not say whereMr. Trump would meet with Mr. Kim. The White Housesaid Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. Kim would take place“at a place and time to be determined.”
Mr. Trump took office vowing to stop North Korea from attaining a nucleartipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland. He’s oscillated between threats and insults directed at Mr. Kim, and more conciliatory rhetoric. His more bellicose talk, and Mr. Kim’s nuclear and missile tests, have fueled fears of war.
Mr. Trump, who has ramped up economic sanctions on North Korea to force it to negotiate on giving up its nukes, has threatened the pariah nation with “fire and fury” if its threats against the U.S. and its allies continued. He has derided Mr. Kim by referring to him as “Little Rocket Man.” As recently as Saturday,Mr.Trumpreferred toMr. Kim as “a madman.”
After Mr. Kim repeated threats against the U.S. in a New Year’s address and mentioned the “nuclear button” on his office desk, Mr. Trump responded by tweeting that he has a nuclear button, too, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, andmy Button works!”
On Tuesday, after leaving Pyongyang, Mr. Chung had publicized that North Korea was offering talks with the U.S. on denuclearization and normalizing ties, but the proposal for a summit still came as a huge surprise, and will raise questions about whether the two sides are ready for such a high-level meeting.
Mr. Chung, who credited Mr. Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign for the diplomatic opening, said Mr. Kim understands that routine U.S.-South Korea military drills “must continue.”
The drills were suspended during the Winter Olympics recently hosted by South Korea, which provided impetus for the inter-Korea rapprochement. The drills are expected to resume next month. North Korea has long protestedthe military maneuvers south of the divided Korean Peninsula as a rehearsal for invadingthe North.
Also, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea has promised to halt development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, but said the pledge was dependent on “U.S. attitude.”
Mr.Trump had made a surprise visit to the White House press briefing room Thursday afternoon to alert reporters to the South Korean announcement. When asked whether the announcement would be about talks with North Korea, Mr. Trump — again showing how much value he places on how he is portrayed in the media — told a reporter: “It’s almost beyond that. Hopefully, youwill give me credit.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had expressed both hope and skepticism about the reported offer of talks, which has yet to beconfirmed, at least publicly, by the isolated North Korean government. While the path to a diplomatic resolution over the North’s nuclear arsenal would be long and difficult, talks could dampen fears of war breaking out over what represents an emerging threatto the U.S. mainland.
Just a few hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is traveling in Africa, had said the adversaries were still a long way from holding negotiations.
The first step is to have talks about whether to hold negotiations — “to have talks about talks,” Mr. Tillerson said.
The apparent lack of coordination marked a pattern of mixed messaging that has characterized the Trump administration’s North Korea diplomacy since Pyongyang launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile last year, sparking the Trump White House’s biggest national security crisis to date.
Now the White House has committed to an unprecedented meeting at a time when the administration lacks a fully staffed cadre of diplomats and advisers.
And speaking before his two senior officials left for the U.S., South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that many “critical moments” still lie ahead to end the nuclear crisis despite North Korea’s recent outreach to Seouland Washington.
“We’ve overcome one critical moment. But there are many critical moments that we still have to go through before reaching the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a permanent peace,” Mr. Moon said in a meeting withchurch leaders.
Mr. Moon still described the outcome of his envoys’ North Korea trip “a big step toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” that was possible with “a strong support” by the U.S. government.