Koreas keep up diplomatic push
Top Trump aide says Kim will be pushed on pledges
South Korea said the North would dismantle its main nuclear test site next month.
WASHINGTON — Top aides to President Donald Trump signaled skepticism Sunday about North Korea’s reported pledge to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for conditions including an American promise not to attack it militarily.
But as preparations moved ahead for a face-toface encounter between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the officials insisted that Trump’s unconventional diplomacy had already yielded greater achievements than his predecessors could claim in reining in the North’s nuclear and ballistics program.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Kim’s seemingly conciliatory rhetoric was not being accepted at face value and indicated that no easing of sanctions against North Korea would take place until North Korea committed to full denuclearization.
Bolton said the Trump administration would demand evidence that Kim’s pledges were “real and not just rhetoric.”
“We’ve heard this before,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” adding that “the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource.” Interviewed separately on “Fox News Sunday,” Bolton said “nobody is starry-eyed” about the North following through on promises.
Bolton also said that the release of three Americans detained in North Korea would be a “demonstration of their sincerity” in the run-up to the summit. He said the administration is waiting to see what North Korea decides to do.
Bolton’s comments came after South Korean officials were quoted as asserting Sunday that Kim dangled the prospect of giving up his nuclear weapons last week when he met with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Kim also offered to allow in experts and journalists from the United States and South Korea to witness the shutdown next month of the North’s only known nuclear testing site, according to Yoon Young-chan, a South Korean presidential spokesman, cited by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
In his talks with Moon, Kim also sought to dispel the notion that the promise to shut down the nuclear testing site under Mount Mantap was an empty gesture because it had become too unstable to use, anyway, after the North’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date, in September.
“You will see that we have two more tunnels that are bigger than the existing ones, and that they are in good condition,” Yoon quoted Kim as saying, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, North Korea said it had suspended its nuclear tests, along with ballistic-missile tests, and announced plans to shut down the test site. In the meeting with Moon, Kim insisted he did not want to threaten the United States or anyone else, according to the South Korean presidential spokesman.
South Korea’s presidential palace said Kim wants a U.S. commitment to bringing a formal end to the Korean War. The 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
“If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a nonaggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?” the North Korean leader asked, according to the South Korean account.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was still the CIA director when he met with Kim over Easter weekend, played down concerns that Trump’s meeting with Kim, planned to take place in May or June, could be knocked off track if the president follows through on threats to withdraw the United States from the landmark nuclear accord with Iran.
Pompeo said Sunday during his Middle East trip that Kim had “higher priorities” than whether the Trump administration would refuse by a May 12 deadline to waive sanctions against Tehran. European allies who are party to the world powers’ accord with Iran, have urged the U.S. administration to adhere to its international commitments or risk being seen as an untrustworthy partner.
Trump has blown hot and cold on Kim, directing both harsh insults and lavish compliments at the North Korean leader.
Even some longtime critics of Trump acknowledged that his zigging and zagging might have led Kim to seek negotiations.
“I think it’s more than fair to say that the combination of the president’s unpredictability and bellicosity had something to do with the North Koreans deciding to come to the table,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on ABC’s “This Week.”
But Schiff also suggested it was dangerous to prematurely claim a breakthrough. “Before the president takes too much credit, or hangs out the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner, he needs to realize we may go into a confrontational phase,” Schiff said. “And he may not want the full blame if things go south.”