Trump deserves more latitude and less attitude

WWASHINGTON “reckless” military threats ell, that didn’t and Ms. Pelosi was complaining take long. President about his “saberrattling.” Donald Now, suddenly, Trump had Mr. Trump’s gone from warmonger barely departed to the second coming Singapore when Democrats of Neville Chamberlain? in Washington unleashed Thecriticism is premature scathing attacks over his and overwrought. Mr. meeting with North Korean Trump made no real concessions dictator Kim Jong Un. “What in Singapore. He did the United States has gained not lift sanctions, unfreeze is vague and unverifiable at North Korean assets or send best. What North Korea has secret planes loaded with gained, however, is tangible hard currency to Pyongyang. and lasting,” Senate Minority He did not sign an agreement Leader Charles E. Schumer ending the Korean War or offer fumed. “In his haste to Pyongyang diplomatic reach an agreement, President recognition. All the president Trump elevated North did was, as a goodwill gesture, Korea to the level of the suspend military exercises United States while preserving with South Korea — a the regime’s status quo,” decision he can easily reverse. House Minority Leader And the fact that the NancyPelosi protested. statement the two leaders

Please. Where were these signed referred only to “complete complaints when President denuclearization,” not Barack Obama was enjoying “complete, verifiable and irreversible peanuts and Cracker Jack denuclearization,” with Raul Castro at a Havana does not mean that Mr. ballpark? And a few Trump gave up verification months ago, Mr. Schumer or irreversibility in the deal, was decrying Mr. Trump’s because there is no “deal” yet, only a “communique” that summarized what the twoleaders discussed. We are at the start of the negotiating process,not the end.

Mr. Trump’s critics need to back off. He inherited this mess. Every other approach by his predecessors to stopping Pyongyang’s nuclear drive has failed. So, the president and his team are trying something new; they deserve some latitude to see if this newapproach can succeed.

Will it work? Maybe not. The North Koreans are skilled liars. It will be incredibly difficult to reach a good deal that ensures the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. But there is reason for hope that Mr. Trump will not sign a bad deal. That’s because the president set a very high bar for himself when he withdrew from Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Any agreement with North Korea that he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reach can’t replicate the flaws they identified in the Iran deal.

What were those flaws? The administration has identified five principal defects:

1. Weak verification. As Mr. Trump declared in his May speech on the Iran nuclear agreement, “the deal’s inspection provisions lack adequate mechanisms to prevent, detect and punish cheating, and don’t even have the unqualified right to inspect many important locations, including military facilities.”

2. No restrictions on ballistic missiles. The Iran deal “fails to address the regime’s development of ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads,” the president said in the May speech.

3. No nuclear dismantlement. “The deal doesn’t even require Iran to dismantle its military nuclear capability,” Mr. Trump said in a 2016 address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

4. Front-loaded sanctions relief. “The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regime’s nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other malign behavior,” Mr. Trump declared in his May address.

5.No congressional buy-in. During the congressional debate over the Iran deal, Mr. Pompeo complained that “instead of coming to Congress for approval of an Iranian deal, the president needs only to convince a handful of Democrats to not override a presidential veto.”

A nuclear deal with North Korea must not replicate these five flaws. According to Mr. Pompeo, it will not. “There will be in-depth verification” of the North’s compliance, the secretary said this week. The United States, he said, has assembled a team of more than 100 experts who will be charged with the task of “dismantling North Korea’s weapons programs.” Any agreement, Mr. Pompeo also said, will cover North Korea’s “[chemical and biological weapons] program and missiles that threaten the world.” And he assured that “until such time as we get the outcome that we’re demanding, economic relief is not going to be provided.” Finally, Mr. Pompeo declared, “in contrast to the previous administration, we want to include Congress as a partner in this process. We want our efforts to have broad support with the American people and endure beyond the Trump administration. A treaty would be our preferred way to go.”

That is an incredibly high standard that will be very tough to meet. “This administration will not repeat the mistakesof the past,” Mr. Pompeo promised, adding that “a bad deal is not an option.” We know what a bad deal looks like. We should all be pulling for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pompeoto negotiate a good one.